Coffee's Phenylindanes Fight Alzheimer's Plaque

Maybe when we get some actual stroke leadership we will get what we need. A protocol of actual amounts needed each day. Precise research needed. 

We need followup and we need it NOW! Whom is going to take responsibility and get that done? 

Our fucking failures of stroke associations will DO NOTHING. Your doctor will DO NOTHING. Your stroke hospital will DO NOTHING.  You're screwed. 

And why are they doing NOTHING? Laziness? Incompetence? Or just don't care? No leadership? No strategy? Not my job?

 

Coffee's Phenylindanes Fight Alzheimer's Plaque 

VIDEO + ARTICLE:

Roasting coffee beans produces Phenylindanes. Phenylindanes uniquely prevent – or rather, inhibit – both tau and beta amyloid plaque, the two big culprits behind Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. Learn how they impact cognitive decline. 

Dr. Weaver enlisted Dr. Ross Mancini, a research fellow in medicinal chemistry and Yanfei Wang, a biologist, to help. The team chose to investigate three different types of coffee – light roast, dark roast, and decaffeinated dark roast.

3 Roast Coffees - Unexpected Results

"The caffeinated and de-caffeinated dark roast both had identical potencies in our initial experimental tests," says Dr. Mancini. "So we observed early on that its protective effect could not be due to caffeine."

Dr. Mancini then identified a group of compounds known as phenylindanes, which emerge as a result of the roasting process for coffee beans. Phenylindanes are unique in that they are the only compound investigated in the study that prevent – or rather, inhibit – both beta amyloid and tau, two protein fragments common in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, from clumping. "So phenylindanes are a dual-inhibitor. Very interesting, we were not expecting that." says Dr. Weaver.

Dark Roast More Protective

As roasting leads to higher quantities of phenylindanes, dark roasted coffee appears to be more protective than light roasted coffee.

"It's the first time anybody's investigated how phenylindanes interact with the proteins that are responsible for Alzheimer's and Parkinson's," says Dr. Mancini. "The next step would be to investigate how beneficial these compounds are, and whether they have the ability to enter the bloodstream, or cross the blood-brain barrier."

Natural Compound

The fact that it's a natural compound versus synthetic is also a major advantage, says Dr. Weaver.

"Mother Nature is a much better chemist than we are and Mother Nature is able to make these compounds. If you have a complicated compound, it's nicer to grow it in a crop, harvest the crop, grind the crop out and extract it than try to make it."

But, he admits, there is much more research needed before it can translate into potential therapeutic options.

"What this study does is take the epidemiological evidence and try to refine it and to demonstrate that there are indeed components within coffee that are beneficial to warding off cognitive decline. It's interesting but are we suggesting that coffee is a cure? Absolutely not."

How Coffee May Protect Brain Health: A New Study Suggests The Benefits Aren't Just From Caffeine

But I really need to know if the daily 8-12 cups I drink is enough, this didn't answer that question. So followup will be needed. WHOM DO WE CONTACT TO GET THAT DONE? 

It most certainly will not be our fucking failures of stroke associations.

How Coffee May Protect Brain Health: A New Study Suggests The Benefits Aren't Just From Caffeine

David DiSalvo Contributor

Getty

Coffee has been getting considerable attention for a growing list of health benefits, with brain health high among them. While not without a few downsides, studies have shown impressive upsides of moderate coffee consumption, often linked to its high caffeine content. But a new lab study suggests that when it comes to brain health, coffee offers more than the stimulating effects of our favorite legal drug–in fact, decaf could be just as effective.

The study began with a question: why has previous research found that coffee consumption correlates with lower risk of developing neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s?
“We wanted to investigate why that is—which compounds [in coffee] are involved and how they may impact age-related cognitive decline," said lead study author Dr. Donald Weaver, co-director of the Krembil Brain Institute in Toronto.

To investigate why, the research team evaluated several compounds (including caffeine) released during the roasting process in three types of coffee beans: caffeinated dark roast, caffeinated light roast, and decaffeinated dark roast.
The analysis focused on how the compounds interact with amyloid beta and tau, the toxic proteins linked to the development of Alzheimer’s disease. Results from previous studies suggest that coffee compounds could provide a neuroprotective effect by inhibiting these proteins from forming the terminally disruptive clumps and tangles found in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients.

The researchers gradually zeroed in on one particular set of compounds known as phenylindanes that form during the roasting process and give coffee its paradoxically enjoyable bitterness. More than any other compound of those examined in this study, the research team found that phenylindanes inhibit both amyloid beta and tau under laboratory conditions.
"So phenylindanes are a dual inhibitor…we were not expecting that," said Dr. Weaver.
The researchers added that most likely it’s a combination of compounds that provides the biggest benefits from drinking coffee, but the results indicate that phenylindanes—present in both caffeinated and decaf coffee (slightly more in dark roasts)—could be central to its neuroprotective effects.
Since this was a lab study that examined the interaction of coffee compounds with toxic proteins outside the body, the next step is to find out if the same results turn up in human subjects once ingested. While the results aren't yet conclusive, the research is an important starting point to investigate how these compounds interact with proteins responsible for brain-destroying diseases that affect more people every year. The researchers were careful to note that they aren't suggesting that coffee is a cure for these diseases.
"What this study does is take the epidemiological evidence and try to refine it and to demonstrate that there are indeed components within coffee that are beneficial to warding off cognitive decline," said study co-author Dr. Ross Mancini. "The next step would be to investigate how beneficial these compounds are, and whether they have the ability to enter the bloodstream or cross the blood-brain barrier.”
The study was published in the journal Frontiers in Neuroscience.
You can find David DiSalvo on Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus, and at his website, daviddisalvo.org.

The Common Drink That Reduces Alzheimer’s Risk

Well jeez, that has been known for years and your hospital is still failing at providing a 24 hour coffee station. 

How do you stand your incompetent doctor/hospital that has been incompetent for at least 5 years? And when will your stroke hospital create a 24 hour coffee station? Not doing so should be a fireable offense for the stroke hospital president.

 

How coffee protects against Parkinson’s Aug. 2014 

 

Coffee May Lower Your Risk of Dementia Feb. 2013

 

The Common Drink That Reduces Alzheimer’s Risk

The common drink contains compounds called phenylindanes that may help protect against dementia.

Drinking coffee could protect against both Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, new research suggests.
The study looked at compounds in coffee called phenylindanes, which may help protect against dementia.

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Higher levels of phenylindanes typically make coffee taste more bitter.
Dr Donald Weaver, study co-author, said:

“Coffee consumption does seem to have some correlation to a decreased risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.
But we wanted to investigate why that is — which compounds are involved and how they may impact age-related cognitive decline.”

The study examined how phenylindanes interact with two proteins that are critical to the development of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
The results showed that phenylindanes inhibit both beta amyloid and tau proteins.
The researchers also compared dark roast, light roast and decaffeinated coffees.

It found that dark roasts had the highest quantities of phenylindanes.
Caffeine, though, made no difference, explained Dr Ross Mancini, the study’s first author:

“The caffeinated and de-caffeinated dark roast both had identical potencies in our initial experimental tests.
So we observed early on that its protective effect could not be due to caffeine.”

Dr Weaver said it is a major advantage that coffee is a natural crop:

“Mother Nature is a much better chemist than we are and Mother Nature is able to make these compounds.
If you have a complicated compound, it’s nicer to grow it in a crop, harvest the crop, grind the crop out and extract it than try to make it.”

More work will be required before therapies can be developed, Dr Weaver said:

“What this study does is take the epidemiological evidence and try to refine it and to demonstrate that there are indeed components within coffee that are beneficial to warding off cognitive decline.
It’s interesting but are we suggesting that coffee is a cure?
Absolutely not.”(So because it is not totally proven you are not even going to write up a protocol on this? Aren't you supposed to be helping patients? Not throwing up your hands in defeat.)