Research recently presented in the journal of the nonprofit Alzheimer’s Association provides fresh evidence that drinking coffee leads to a reduced risk of dementia.
Led by a team at Zhejiang University in China, the study followed more than 6,000 older adults to explore how varying intake levels of coffee and tea affect cognitive health over time.
At the beginning of the study period, in 2013, subjects were free of dementia with an average age of 67.5 years, with women representing 59% of the group. The participants’ health was tracked through 2020, with 231 new cases of dementia identified.
To reduce the influence of reverse causation — in which preclinical changes or early symptoms might affect dietary habits — the research team excluded dementia cases diagnosed within the first two years of the follow-up period.
Coffee drinkers within the group were found to have a hazard ratio (HR) of 0.62 (95% CI: 0.41–0.94) for developing dementia, compared to non-coffee drinkers. In other words, their risk was about 38% lower.
A similar protective association held for both caffeinated coffee and decaffeinated coffee, suggesting that components beyond caffeine might be contributing to the observed benefit.
Tea drinkers also experienced protective benefits, but with a different pattern than coffee drinkers, according to the study. Moderate consumption of tea — defined in this study as up to two “cups” — was linked to a lower dementia risk compared to those who never drank tea.
Only caffeinated tea, not decaffeinated tea demonstrated a statistically significant relationship with reduced dementia risk, with people drinking zero to one cups per day showing 36% lower risk and people drinking one to two cups showing a 45% lower risk than non-tea drinkers.
The study reaffirms numerous recent major studies showing that coffee drinking has protective effects against dementia and Alzheimer’s.
The study was published as a supplement in the December 2024 issue of Alzheimer’s & Dementia, the flagship journal of the Chicago-based Alzheimer’s Association.
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