According to research, the potential benefits of caffeine for maintenance of proper brain functioning has only recently begun to be appreciated. Proper brain functioning? Those of us who stumble blindly, mumbling unintelligibly, from bed to coffee pot first thing in the morning already appreciate the effect of caffeine on proper brain functioningbut the benefits now seem to be further-reaching than the need to simply shake off the morning cobwebs.In a study published in a special supplement to the Journal of Alzheimers Disease, researchers explored the potential benefits of caffeine and found substantial evidence that it may be protective against the cognitive decline seen in dementia and Alzheimers disease.For the study (Therapeutic Opportunities for Caffeine in Alzheimers Disease and Other Neurodegenerative Diseases) a group of international experts looked into the effects of caffeine on the brain. The result was a collection of original studies exploring a number of topics ranging from molecular targets of caffeine, neurophysiological modifications and adaptations, to the potential mechanisms underlying the behavioral and protective actions of caffeine in distinct brain pathologies. Heres a brief summary of what they found:
