People who drink four to six cups of coffee daily may be less likely to develop multiple sclerosis, accoding to an international study presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 67th Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.
Lead author Ellen Mowry of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland explained, "Caffeine intake has been associated with a reduced risk of Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases."
She added, "Our study shows that coffee intake may also protect against MS, supporting the idea that the drug may have protective effects for the brain."
As reported by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, more than 2.3 million people are affected by multiple sclerosis (MS) across the globe. MS is a chronic disease of the central nervous system (CNS) wherein the system incorrectly attacks healthy cells in the CNS.
The myelin fibers, the ones protecting the nerve cells from damage, are affected that causes an alteration in the communication pathway to and from the brain. Symptoms of MS include blurred vision, loss of balance, poor coordination, slurred speech, tremors, numbness, extreme fatigue, problems with memory and concentration, paralysis, and blindness.
Dr. Ellen Mowry, study author from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, MD, and colleagues studied the data from two population-based case-control studies that looked into the association between drinking coffee and multiple sclerosis.
The two studies were a Swedish study and the other one was a study conducted in the United States. They were able to compare more than 1,000 MS patients to a similar number of healthy people considered as the control group.
They kept a record and tracked how much coffee the participants drank in one, five and 10 years before MS symptoms emerged. They took into consideration other factors such as age, sex, smoking, body mass index and sun exposure.
The Swedish study found out that compared to people who took in at least six cups of coffee a day during the year before MS symptoms emerged, the ones who did not drink coffee had a one and a half increased risk of developing MS.
Meanwhile, from the U.S. study, they found out that subjects who did not drink coffee in the year before symptoms of MS appeared were around 1.5 times more likely to develop MS compared to those who drank at least four cups of coffee per day.
They traced its effect on its main ingredient, caffeine. They explained, "Caffeine has neuroprotective properties and seems to suppress the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, which may be mechanisms that explain the observed association."
However, Dr. Mowry reiterates in a report in Medical News Today that future research should investigate or look into how coffee consumption affects long-term disability and symptom relapse in patients with MS.