To tie coffee to health benefits, a recent study showed that caffeine might control the symptoms of Parkinson Disease. Sixty-one people in their mid-60s, with daytime sleepiness (one of the symptoms of Parkinson disease) were tracked for the study in which participants were randomly assigned to six weeks of caffeine pills or placebo pills. Caffeine pill groups received 100 milligram-caffeine pills twice per day. After 3 weeks, caffeine dose was increased to 200-milligram, which is equivalent to 2-4 cups of coffee.
Into
the six-week study, people taking caffeine didn’t show any improvement in
sleepiness. Their results showed that caffeine group has averaged a five-point
improvement on a ratings scale of Parkinson's symptom severity than the group
who took placebos. Even though it was just modest improvement, small
improvements can provide benefits to these people with the disease. But
caffeine pills group did improve on an overall scale of Parkinson's symptoms,
including on measures of muscle rigidity and other movement problems.
They
mention that long-term study needs to be done to determine weather the effect
of caffeine wears off over time or not. Their result didn’t suggest that
caffeine could be used as a treatment, so their study is not yet conclusive.
But according to Dr. Michael, “caffeine seems to block a malfunctioning brain
signal in Parkinson's disease that may explain these benefits in patients, but
still cant be use as a treatment for Parkinson. “
What
I think of this study is, first of all their sample is too small so it’s not
reliable. They also casually dismiss the difference between caffeine and coffee;
they are not the same thing because there are additional chemicals, in varying
amounts, in coffee.
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ReplyDeleteGreat post! I find it interesting that after 6 weeks into the study, taking a pill with an equivalence of 2-4 cups of coffee twice per day did not result in any improvement in sleepiness in those participating in the study! Of course that is why most of us drink coffee, to help with sleepiness.
ReplyDeleteAlso, when you said that " their results showed that caffeine group has averaged a five-point improvement on a ratings scale of Parkinson's symptom severity than the group who took placebos " I am wondering what was the scale they used? Was it 1-10?
It is not surprising that caffeine is being explored with to fight this disease, but I am concerned that it could have potential side effects that coincide with the benefits that they are describing and therefore would not be a good treatment for Parkinson's disease even if there are improvements in the severity in the study. Some examples of effects that caffeine can have negatively are enhanced bone weakness (as we know, older people already have this problem and I wonder if caffeine might progress weakness further), high blood pressure (always an issue, especially with heart conditions), diabetes etc.
To answer your questions, I look up some article related to caffeine causing blood pressure, what I found is there has been some studies done that shows Caffeine can increase b.p. but only for a short term, even in person who doesn’t have high blood pressure. But they don’t know what really cause it. For the range of scale I am also not sure about that, I cant access the original article.
Deletehttp://www.personal.psu.edu/afr3/blogs/SIOW/2011/10/why-does-caffeine-wake-us-up.html
DeleteIt could be due to the hormonal changes in the body and the neuronal action change.
I though that this article was slightly misleading in the fact that it opens with stating that this is the latest study trying to tie "coffee to health benefits," yet the study involved the use of caffeine pills, not the consumption of coffee. Caffeine pills and coffee, which contains caffeine, are not exactly interchangeable due to the multitude of chemical factors present in coffee which could affect the outcome of this experiment if coffee were used.
ReplyDeleteI also found it very interesting that the experiment was geared towards the daytime sleepiness symptom of Parkinson's, hence the use of caffeine pills, but the study yielded no effect of caffeine on daytime sleepiness, yet it appeared to have a positive effect on movement symptoms related to Parkinson's. Dr. Michael Schwarzschild of Harvard Medical School suggested that "caffeine seems to block a malfunctioning brain signal in Parkinson's disease that may explain these benefits in patients." I think researching the possible malfunction blockage by caffeine would be worthwhile, and although Dr. Schwarzschild did not indulge details of his knowledge of this mechanism, his suggestion could possibly serve as an opening point for other people to research this idea. However, I do agree with Deandra in the above post that complications of long term use of caffeine must be taken into consideration, as the negative effects of long term caffeine use could potentially outweigh the good.
What I found interesting is that the original research article never mentioned coffee once. So I'm guessing that the CBS news article tried to drum up interest by linking the words 'coffee' with 'caffeine'. However, I think it's probably appropriate to link the two.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the comment that the sample size of 61 is too small to be reliable, I would say the sample size is appropriate, given the study design. The researchers used a randomized control trial that evaluated change over time as well as using powerful statistics, Bayesian hierarchical models, that accounted for the repeated measures within each individual participant. This method essentially allowed the researchers to account for the variability that might exist in each individual and really address the research question if caffeine affects symptoms of Parkinson's Disease. However the sample size might be too small to be generalizable to a larger population.
Finally, I think the researchers made appropriate conclusions, given their results and that these short term results do warrant further follow-up to assess long term effects of caffeine on PD symptoms.
Below is the link to the original article.
http://www.neurology.org/content/early/2012/08/01/WNL.0b013e318263570d.full.pdf+html
Interesting post! I think what I found to be the most peculiar part of this topic though is the other effects that caffeine may have on a person. For example when I drink too much coffee or have too much caffeine, I tend to get jittery. Considering Parkinson's deals directly with a "shaking" symptom, although to a more severe effect, and through a completely different mechanism (I'm assuming), could this be seen in Parkinson's patients? And would this effect their current stand on the helpfulness of caffeine on Parkinson's?
ReplyDeleteThis was particularly interesting to me because of the fact that there is an argument in the comments that coffee is different from caffeine. If this is to be an effective article, it should be showing the link between caffeine and overall health. The reason why possibly they would think that coffee could link to overall health should lie in the coffee bean content and not in the component caffeine. One could also think of the interactions between caffeine and the coffee bean components. I would also think that the results of a study comprised of 61 patients would not be considered as significant.
ReplyDeleteI found this post to be extremely interesting as well! I agree with some of the previous posts on some of their view points regarding the caffeine pills. With regards to the "shakiness"of disease, like Brynne mentioned, I would also think that this would be a side effect of taking the caffeine pills. Perhaps this was not one of the symptoms that had a reduction on its point scale? Also, I think it is very interesting that about 4 cups of coffee worth of caffeine would have no effect on the subjects' sleepiness.
ReplyDeleteTo address the opinion about the long-term effects of caffeine, I would not think that the effects would last very long since our body metabolizes this substance in a few hours. I would have like to seen a more in depth study that took into consideration the tolerance of caffeine the patients had before the study, and definitely a larger selection of patients.
To be honest, I don't drink a lot of coffee because I don't feel the energizing effect it has on most other people. If anything, I feel more tired after a cup of coffee because it is a hot, soothing liquid. However, I do like having some caffeine (whether its in a drink or some other form) when I have an upset stomach or cramping. This usually helps to relieve my pain. With this in mind, I would not be surprised that caffeine has other beneficial effects. In regards to the Parkinson's study, I don't think that a small sample size should be looked at as a bad thing. Like my own body, everyone's body is going to react differently to caffeine. It gets us thinking about the possibilities for the future. Though, I agree, they should make a clear distinction between coffee and caffeine.
ReplyDelete