Study confirms cup of joe can perk up the brain

[question everything]

Study confirms cup of joe can perk up the brain

CHICAGO TRIBUNE

December 1, 2005

(snip)

Now a team of Austrian researchers using advanced brain-imaging technology have discovered that caffeine makes people more alert by perking up part of the brain involved in short-term memory, the kind that helps focus attention on the tasks at hand.

And Americans seem most in need of concentrating their thoughts since their average daily consumption of 236 milligrams of caffeine, equivalent to more than 4.5 cups of coffee, is three times the world average.

(snip)

Reporting yesterday at the Radiological Society of North America meeting in Chicago, Koppelstaetter said that functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI, was used to measure brain function in 15 healthy volunteers before and after consuming coffee.

The findings revealed increased activity in the frontal lobe, where working memory is centered, and the anterior cingulum, which controls attention, in volunteers after consuming 100 milligrams of caffeine, the equivalent of about two cups of coffee. These areas showed no increased activity when the subjects drank the same fluid without caffeine in it.

(snip)


Find this article at:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20051201/news_1n1coffee.html

[LeighAnn]

1. Shouldn't they be trying to cure cancer and what-not?

I could have told them that at about 8:15 this morning and saved them a lot of time and money.

[question everything]

2. "Testimonials" vs. hard data

The medical profession frowns on testimonials even though for many these are the facts, their facts.

And, hey, you never know. Once the effect of caffeine on the brain can be measured, it could suggest some form of treatment for brain cancer.

[LeighAnn]

4. Hope they find out drinking coffee prevents brain cancer!

Now that would be some news I could use!

[aquart]

3. Which is why no one should talk to me before my coffee.

Because I wouldn't even be able to summon the words with which to answer.