Low levels of blood caffeine and its metabolites may help identify patients with early Parkinson’s disease, according to new research reported by Parkinson’s News Today. The findings are consistent with caffeine’s neuroprotective effects, previously observed in neurodegenerative diseases.
The study, “Serum caffeine and metabolites are reliable biomarkers of early Parkinson disease,” was published in the journal Neurology. The work was conducted by researchers at the Juntendo University School of Medicine in Tokyo, Japan.
A large number of epidemiological studies report a dose-responsive, inverse relationship between coffee/caffeine consumption and the risk of developing Parkinson’s. However, little is known about caffeine metabolism in Parkinson’s patients.
With that in mind, the team recruited 108 Parkinson’s patients without memory problems plus 31 age-matched healthy people as controls, and investigated their blood caffeine (and 11 of its metabolites) levels and whether there were mutations in their caffeine-related genes.
Both groups consumed the same amount of caffeine (about two cups of coffee a day).
Results showed that even early-onset Parkinson’s patients had significantly lower levels of caffeine and nine of its metabolites in their blood, compared to the control group. This was found to be unrelated to total caffeine intake or the severity of the disease.
A statistical analysis revealed that this simple blood test was able to reliably identify Parkinson’s patients.
Despite the promising results, this is a relative small study which needs to be replicated at a larger scale, remarks Parkinson’s News Today.
