Give your brain a fighting chance

This one is from a couple of weeks ago, but better late than never: Newly-published research at the University of North Dakota shows that the daily intake of caffeine helps protect your brain from dementia.

According to this BBC article, the mechanism is this: There's this thing called the blood-brain barrier that seals off the brain and central nervous system from the bloodstream, to keep all the little goobers in your blood from attaking the brain. Cholesterol in your blood -- and you have cholesterol in your blood, no matter what you eat -- attacks the blood-brain barrier and makes it "leaky," which could let some of the goobers get at your brain, and damage it, potentially causing dementia or Alzheimer's. Caffeine prevents the cholesterol from attacking the blood-brain barrier.

I didn't really get from the article how the caffeine does that. But I don't care. Two or three cups a day for me, every day. I've been drinking coffee since I was six months old, and even at my advanced age, I am sharp as a tack. A tack, I tell you.

(No, I DON'T know if Starbuck's sponsored the research. Stop trying to rain on my parade. Besides, even if Starbuck's DID sponsor the research, that does not make it untrue. And I drink Bargreen's, anyway.)

Posted: Mon - April 21, 2008 at 11:22 AM

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Give your brain a fighting chance

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