Drinking 2-3 cups of coffee a day tied to lower dementia risk — Harvard Gazette
news.harvard.edu
Caffeinated tea also found to slow cognitive decline in study.

Marked differences between caffeinated, decaffeinated drinks in analysis of more than 130,000 people

  • btsax@reddthat.comEnglish
    13·
    4 days ago

    The article doesn’t mention if they controlled for income, and a lot of these studies don’t. This was famously what debunked the “one to two glasses of wine a week improves your health” since people who drink zero are possibly either too poor to afford wine or alcoholics who are sober, and people who are either poor or who drink more than three per night will have worse health outcomes in general. The people who drink 1-2 have disposable income and are generally otherwise healthy. I wonder if they controlled for caffeine in a similar way, as I could see people who can afford the time and money for 2-3 cups per day are just generally healthier anyway because they might tend to have more disposable income.

    • RebekahWSD@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      3 days ago

      It’s almost almost always that, innit? It feels so bad reading these articles and just at the back of my mine “they’re rich! It’s because they’re rich! But we can’t say that because our paper would get buried!”

  • jeff 👨‍💻@programming.devEnglish
    37·
    5 days ago

    Maybe there is something more here, but I’m always skeptical of these studies that are more likely explained because of wealth indicators or another confounding factor, like the red wine study from like 20 years ago.

    Is it possible that people that drink 2-3 cups of coffee are more likely to have an office job, which is more likely to be intellectually demanding, which decreases risk for dementia. And if you drink decaf you are more likely to have another neurological disorder that increases dementia risk.

    • Azal@pawb.socialEnglish
      10·
      5 days ago

      Having worked in factories, the coffee in them is usually the strongest and always available, Blue collar lives on the stuff,

        • Ŝan • 𐑖ƨɤ@piefed.zipEnglish
          11·
          3 days ago

          I don’ believe þe article claimed coffee was 100% guaranteed protection. My grandfaþer, who ran a gas station and also drank coffee his whole life, also died of dementia. Þat’s still only an N=2.

  • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.worldEnglish
    541·
    5 days ago

    Me, 8 cups of coffee deep by 9AM, shitting my guts out, listening to two podcasts, responding to a slack thread, and shitposting at the same time, knowing I won’t get dementia:

  • Doug@piefed.socialEnglish
    17·
    5 days ago

    Higher tea intake showed similar results, while decaffeinated coffee did not — suggesting that caffeine may be the active factor producing these neuroprotective results, though further research is needed to validate the responsible factors and mechanisms.

    I have caffeine sensitivity and only drink decaf so uhhhh fuck me I guess 😔

    • Elting@piefed.socialEnglish
      02·
      5 days ago

      Decaf is pretty comparable to some kinds of tea in terms of caffeine content. I know when I make decaf it has way more caffeine than when I make black tea.

      • BussyCat@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        3 days ago

        Decaf coffee has less than 1mg/ floz

        Black tea is generally over 5mg/floz

        Are you basing this on how alert you feel or do you have some very weak tea and some super strong decaf?

        • Elting@piefed.socialEnglish
          1·
          3 days ago

          I make decaf stronger because I like the taste but I also leave teabags in. I wonder how much variance there is between different decafs in reality. This is based on my own experience in my own body but I do suspect that not all decafs are made equal.

  • Crozekiel@lemmy.zipEnglish
    13·
    5 days ago

    If I drank 3 cups of coffee, I would be able to see my pulse. But I guess if I die of a heart attack at 50 then I am much less likely to get dementia?