Two Compounds in Coffee May Work Together to Fight Parkinson’s and Protect Brain Health

New research suggests that coffee’s potential health benefits are about more than caffeine.

via ScienceDaily

Rutgers scientists have found a compound in coffee that may team up with caffeine to fight Parkinson’s disease and Lewy body dementia — two progressive and currently incurable diseases associated with brain degeneration.

The discovery, recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests these two compounds combined may become a therapeutic option to slow brain degeneration.

Lead author M. Maral Mouradian, director of the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School Institute for Neurological Therapeutics and William Dow Lovett Professor of Neurology, said prior research has shown that drinking coffee may reduce the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease.

While caffeine has traditionally been credited as coffee’s special protective agent, coffee beans contain more than a thousand other compounds that are less well known.

The Rutgers study focused on a fatty acid derivative of the neurotransmitter serotonin, called EHT (Eicosanoyl-5-hydroxytryptamide), found in the bean’s waxy coating. The researchers found that EHT protects the brains of mice against abnormal protein accumulation associated with Parkinson’s disease and Lewy body dementia.

Mouradian said further research is needed to determine the proper amounts and ratio of EHT and caffeine required for the protective effect in people.

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Journal Reference: 

1. Run Yan, Jie Zhang, Hye-Jin Park, Eun S. Park, Stephanie Oh, Haiyan Zheng, Eunsung Junn, Michael Voronkov, Jeffry B. Stock, M. Maral Mouradian. Synergistic neuroprotection by coffee components eicosanoyl-5-hydroxytryptamide and caffeine in models of Parkinson’s disease and DLB. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2018; 201813365 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1813365115

A Bitter Buzz: The Psychology Behind Our Love of Coffee

A new study found that coffee drinkers are actually more sensitive to the bitter taste of caffeine.

Coffee is a complex beverage – and it’s experienced differently by everyone.

Your appreciation (or not) of coffee is largely driven by genetics, which control a host of factors raging from your caffeine tolerance to sensory perception.

A new study from Northwestern University, recently published in Scientific Reports, found that coffee lovers aren’t less sensitive to the bitter taste of coffee – instead, the opposite is true.

This suggests an interesting psychological phenomenon behind our love of coffee.

People with genes indicating high sensitivity to quinine and propylthiouracil tended to drink less coffee on average, Forbes reports.

But humans generally have a genetic “inborn aversion towards bitterness,” to stop us from eating  poisonous food. So why do we keep refilling our cups?

Researchers suggest a psychological phenomenon: “It is possible that coffee consumers acquire a taste for (or an ability to detect) caffeine given the learned positive reinforcement (i.e. stimulation) elicited by caffeine.”

This means that coffee is literally an acquired taste, driven by our Pavlovian response associating the bitterness to the subsequent energy boost over time.

Read more: The Funny Psychology Of Why We Love The Taste Of Coffee

Related: Is Caffeine In Your Genes?

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