Coffee Improves Tremors Caused By Parkinson's Disease, Study Claims

Coffee can help tame the tremors caused by Parkinson's disease, research has shown.

Scientists gave 61 patients caffeine pills equivalent to drinking two to four cups of coffee a day, or an inactive "dummy" treatment.

After six weeks, those taking the caffeine averaged a five-point improvement in symptom severity ratings.

Coffee could help improve the tremor symptoms caused by Parkinson's

"Studies have shown that people who use caffeine are less likely to develop Parkinson's disease, but this is one of the first studies in humans to show that caffeine can help with movement symptoms for people who already have the disease," said lead researcher Dr Ronald Postuma, from McGill University in Montreal, Canada.

"This is a modest improvement, but may be enough to provide benefit to patients."

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The caffeine group also averaged a three-point improvement in speed of movement and stiffness compared with non-treated patients.

The findings are reported in the online issue of the medical journal Neurology.

Dr Michael Schwarzschild, from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, US, who wrote an editorial accompanying the research, said: "The study is especially interesting since caffeine seems to block a malfunctioning brain signal in Parkinson's disease and is so safe and inexpensive.

"Although the results do not suggest that caffeine should be used as a treatment in Parkinson's disease, they can be taken into consideration when people with Parkinson's are discussing their caffeine use with their neurologist."

The authors point out that the study was short and the effects of caffeine may lessen over time.

Take at look at health benefits of coffee as discovered by scientists…

Health Benefits Of Coffee

Coffee Could Save Your Brain (01 of07)

... Well, maybe. A study in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease suggests that there's something in coffee - though researchers have yet to determine what exactly that "something" is - interacts with caffeine to boost the levels of granulocyte colony stimulating factor (GCSF), a growth factor that seems to be able to fight off Alzheimer's disease in mice. The amount of coffee needed in the study is equivalent to about four or five cups of coffee for humans. Researchers said GCSF likely has this effect because it causes stem cells in the bone marrow to come into the brain and remove the beta-amyloid plaques associated with Alzheimer's disease. It also has a role in forming brain cell connections and creating new brain neurons, researchers said. (credit:alamy)

Coffee Could Lower Depression In Women(02 of07)

Women who drink a few cups of caffeinated coffee have a lower risk of depression than women who don't drink any coffee, according to a Harvard study. That research, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, shows that women who drink two to three cups of coffee a day have a 15 percent lower risk, while women who drink four or more cups of coffee a day have a 20 percent lower risk. Study research Dr. Albert Ascherio told HuffPost earlier that "caffeine is known to affect the brain," because it "modulates the release of mood transmitters." "I'm not saying we're on the path to discovering a new way to prevent depression," he said. "But I think you can be reassured that if you are drinking coffee, it is coming out as a positive thing." (credit:Alamy)

Coffee Could Lower Men's Prostate Cancer Risk (03 of07)

A Harvard School of Public Health study shows that men who drink six cups of coffee a day have a 60% decreased chance of developing a dangerous form of prostate cancer, as well as a 20% decreased chance of developing any other kinds of prostate cancer. The study, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, also shows that just drinking just some coffee a day - just one to three cups - could still cut prostate cancer risk by 30%. (credit:alamy)

Coffee Could Decrease Parkinson's Risk(04 of07)

Drinking a few cups of coffee a day could lower the risk of developing Parkinson's disease by as much as 25%, according to a study published last year in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease. In that review of studies, which was published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, researchers examined 26 studies that involved 125,000 British people, to find that two or three cups of coffee seemed to have the optimal effect, The Telegraph reported. (credit:alamy)

Coffee Could Ward Off The World's Most Common Cancer (05 of07)

New research presented at the American Association for Cancer Research conference shows that coffee could help to ward off basal cell carcinoma, the most common cancer in the world.Researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School found that women who drink three or more cups of caffeinated coffee a day have a 20% lower risk of the skin cancer, while men had a 9% lower risk. Decaf coffee didn't seem to have the same protective effect -- so "our study shows that the inverse association with BCC appears due to caffeine, not other components in the coffee consumption," study researcher Fengju Song, Ph.D., earlier told HuffPost. (credit:alamy)

Coffee Could Protect You From Type 2 Diabetes (06 of07)

Drinking coffee is associated with a lower Type 2 diabetes risk, with more coffee consumption linked to a greater decrease in risk, according to an Archives of Internal Medicine review of studies from 2009.In that review, researchers looked at data from more than 450,000 people in 18 studies, and found that for every extra cup of coffee drank a day, a person's risk of Type 2 diabetes decreased by 7%. However, researchers cautioned that "the putative protective effects of these beverages warrant further investigation in randomized trials." (credit:alamy)

Coffee (Or At Least, The Caffeine!) Can Help You Proofread Better (07 of07)

The caffeine in coffee could actually help you to spot grammar errors, according to a new study in the Journal of Experimental Psychology. Researchers found that caffeine helped students to correct errors in subject-verb agreement and verb tense, MSNBC reported. However, the caffeine still didn't seem to make a difference at identifying misspelled words - sorry. (credit:alamy)

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