INTERESTING TIMES

A new study shows that patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) do not progress to dementia if they drink enough coffee! Gotta love it. I'm going to start drinking a whole pot, by golly. The researchers in this study think that it's the caffeine, and not the anti-oxidants, that has the anti-dementia effect, but according to mouse studies, it has to be coffee. Those patients with a little MCI who java it up enough to have a plasma caffeine level of 1200ng/mL did not go into dementia. 100%. The caffeine appears to inhibit an enzyme used in the manufacture of beta amyloid! They're also tracking cytokines in the plasma and finding that there's a particular profile assorted with conversion to Alzheimer's disease (low IL-6, IL-10, and G-CSF). In the future we might consider testing for those cytokines to detect impending dementia in healthy patients.
( notes!! )

Further analysis of the Women's Health Initiative data has revealed that women who drink 4+ cups of coffee per day have 25% less risk of endometrial cancer than women who drink one or less. Drinking 2 or more cups of decaf per day was associated with a 22% risk reduction but the sample size was too small to have statistical significance. The strongest inverse association between coffee drinking and endometrial cancer was among obese women.

SOURCES
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/754053?src=mpnews&spon=16
http://cebp.aacrjournals.org/content/early/2011/10/03/1055-9965.EPI-11-0766.abstract

Francis Brinker ND
1981 NCNM grad, prof at SCNM and U of Az College of Med
Botanical Pharmacokinetic Interactions with Drugs and Botanical Adjuncts
with NSAIDS & Analgesics for Arthritis
Useful Website: http://medicine.iupui.edu/clinpharm/DDIs/table.aspx
**print interaction summary page from moodle
consumer info: http://WWW.DRUGDIGEST.ORG/WPS/PORTAL/DDIGEST
arthritis part of talk at the very end, first part of talk all about drug interactions
interactions with St John's Wort, Ginkgo, Ginseng, Garlic, Peppermint, and as usual Grapefruit
( notes )

I've done it enough times that I sort of enjoy the cycle. Normally I start drinking coffee during final exams, because I find it does help me study with more energy and focus. And after finals, generally I wean off it. This summer I kept drinking coffee because I knew I'd be visiting Suzanne and many other friends who are regular, daily, lifelong coffee drinkers. I get it, I really enjoy coffee. I love the smell, the warmth and earthiness, the bitterness and richness. It rivals chocolate as a sensory experience.
( they call me coffee )

The last good news was that smart people drink more coffee and stay smart later in life. Tea drinkers do better than those who don't drink either beverage, but coffee was the best smarts-maintainer. I think it has to do with the previously researched fact that caffeine inhibits amyloid deposition in the brain--that's what causes Alzheimers.

But there's MORE. This study indicates that coffee actually lowers the risk of pharyngeal, esophageal and oral cancers. At least in Japan it does. The association appears to apply without regard for smoking status or gender.

SGA welcomes Julia Ross!
Author of The Diet Cure & The Mood Cure
Monday March 31st
9am-1pm
Mood & Alternatives to Antidepressants
This is FREE
for NCNM students!
( so I went )

I discovered mate when I was travelling in Chile in 1992-3. The Andean people drink the stuff all day long, using a bombilla and a gourd. A bombilla is a metal straw with a mini tea ball on the end. You put the mate leaves in your gourd, dump in a spoonful of sugar and top it with hot water, and drink through the bombilla. The Chilean men drink it while working, and keep adding more water and more sugar.
( more )