If you need an excuse to have a second cup of coffee, you’ll be thrilled to know that research supports your caffeine fix. One of the many helpful tips in Joy Bauer’s Food Cures (Rodale, August 2011), drinking coffee not only gives you a boost of energy, it also boosts your cognitive health. Here’s how.
If you need an excuse to have a second cup of coffee, you’ll be thrilled to know that research supports your caffeine fix. One of the many helpful tips in Joy Bauer’s Food Cures (Rodale, August 2011), drinking coffee not only gives you a boost of energy, it also boosts your cognitive health. Here’s how.
Food is good medicine
In 2007, the New York Times bestseller Joy Bauer’s Food Cures gave health-hungry readers what and how to eat to achieve optimum wellness. Now, in a brand new, fully revised edition, Bauer brings readers up to date on the most current science and research regarding nutrition and diet, ranging from foods to rev your metabolism and lose weight to skin care and disease prevention.
In Joy Bauer’s Food Cures, Bauer gives specific dietary guidelines to lower blood pressure and cholesterol, control pain, kick PMS to the curb, sleep better, sharpen memory and more. The registered dietician gives you the inside scoop on how antioxidants, omega-3s, and other nutrients are good medicine.
Caffeine is a brain booster
My favorite tip in Joy Bauer’s Food Cures is drink coffee to improve cognitive health. Bauer cites research conducted by the University of Innsbruck in Austria. Researchers used fMRI to examine the brain activity of people working on a memory task. Volunteers were tested after drinking the caffeine equivalent of 2 cups of coffee and then again without any caffeine. The fMRI results showed that caffeine improved the memory skills and reaction times of the participants.
Coffee and tea can ward off mental decline
Bauer also extols the long-term brain benefits of caffeine. She refers to a study that followed a group of nearly 700 men that had no cognitive problems initially. After 10 years, researchers found that the men who averaged 3 cups of coffee a day had significantly less mental decline than nondrinkers. Bauer concludes, “Regular coffee and tea drinkers may also be at a lower risk of Alzheimers’ disease and other forms of dementia.” She adds that researchers aren’t sure if it’s the caffeine or the antioxidants and bioactive plant compounds that offer the memory benefits, but suggests having that cup of caffeine to boost your brain.
Best memory boosting beverages
Bauer suggests coffee, espresso, soy latte, soy cappuccino, soy cafe au lait, and tea.
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