Unknown Ingredient in Coffee Works with Caffeine to Prevent Alzheimer 's disease
A currently unidentified ingredient within the popular coffee beverage has been found to work in collaboration with caffeine to prevent Alzheimer's disease. The ingredient performs this feat by raising the amounts of granulocyte colony stimulating factor (GCSF), this significant protein is thought to be responsible for the prevention of Alzheimer's. This information was obtained by a research team from the USF (University of South Florida), the members of this institution carried out various experiments on rodents such as rats and have since made their findings publicly available through an issue of the JAD (Journal of Alzheimer's Disease) available on the internet.
Coffee that contains caffeine leads to an increase of the granulocyte colony stimulating factor protein within the blood stream. The precise manner in which this event occurs is not yet fully comprehended. Nonetheless it is known for a fact that synergistic interaction occurs between some unidentified coffee component and caffeine. It is this unidentified coffee component that leads to the beneficial increase in GCSF levels within the blood stream. This was what was said by the neuroscientist and main co-author of the discovery, Doctor Chuanchai Cao.
Some earlier research seemed to indicate that high levels of coffee and caffeine taken during the 'midlife' period of an individual might lead to the individual having a much reduced risk of Alzheimer's later on during their lives. This was found in an earlier study by the same university. Coffee consists of many various ingredients, not just caffeine; this is why researchers considered the fact that maybe the other ingredients present in coffee also had a role to play in the prevention of Alzheimer's. Thus the researchers then set up experiments on mice that sought to identify the effects of decaffeinated and caffeinated coffee on the cytokines present within the blood streams of the mice.
Cytokines are known to be a major contributing factor in the development of Alzheimer's, the mice used in the researchers experiment were genetically engineered to have a higher likelihood of getting Alzheimer's when compared with 'healthy' mice. In both engineered and non-engineered mice, the intake of caffeinated coffee led to a vast and specific increase of three cytokines: IL-6, IL-10, and GCSF within the blood streams of the mice. Nonetheless caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee individually did not produce this effect. This is what led researchers to arrive at the conclusion that an 'unknown' ingredient in coffee, must be responsible for this effect.