Adding coffee to doughnut protects brain

GRAND FORKS, N.D., April 3 (UPI) -- Adding a coffee to that breakfast doughnut could help protect against Alzheimer's disease, U.S. researchers say.

Researchers at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences have determined the caffeine equivalent of just one cup of coffee a day could protect the blood-brain barrier from damage that occurred with a high-fat diet.

The researcher fed rabbits cholesterol-enriched diet and also gave them 3 milligrams of caffeine each day -- the equivalent of a daily cup of coffee for an average-size person.

The study, published in the Journal of Neuroinflammation, said that after 12 weeks a number of laboratory tests showed the blood-brain barrier was significantly more intact in rabbits receiving a daily dose of caffeine.

"Caffeine appears to block several of the disruptive effects of cholesterol that make the blood-brain barrier leaky," Jonathan Geiger said in a statement. "High levels of cholesterol are a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease, perhaps by compromising the protective nature of the blood-brain barrier."

Its the first time chronic ingestion of caffeine has been shown to protect the blood-brain barrier from cholesterol-induced leakage, Geiger said.