Caffein effects on Parkinson's and Alzheimer's: mechanisms?

Q: Dr. Zilberter,

I read two interesting articles, Caffeine protect against neurodegeneration in Alzheimer’s  disease and Coffee, tea, and chocolate can help to avoid Parkinson’s disease at the  Agelessbrain.com - could you please tell in general terms something about how it does its  neuroprotective things?

Thank you,

John

A: John,

Caffeine is the stimulant containing in coffee that is widely consumed, so the interest to its recently observed neuroprotective effects is understandable. Increased attention span and improved psychomotor performance have been reported as effects of both coffee and caffein.

Caffeine acts via blockade of the adenosine receptors A1 and A2, as well by counteracting reductions in the turnover of one of the most important neurotransmitters, noradrenaline. The observed ability of caffeine in counteracting the physical fatigue is due to an indirect increase of the levels of another important neurotransmitter dopamine, this explains the beneficial influence of regular coffee drinking on the risk of Parkinson's disease: Coffee, tea, and chocolate can help to avoid Parkinson’s disease


As to Alzheimer's prevention, there's a brief mentioning of possible mechanism: via enzyme that degrades both insulin and amyloid-beta, the most suspected cause of Alzheimer’s:

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