Coffee has now been proven to support cognitive function and
certain types of coffee in particular can be beneficial to brain health. Coffee
protects the brain against cognitive impairments and boost thinking skills.
Dr. Donald Waver and his team of the Krembil Brain Institute
investigated what compounds are involved in coffee that influence the decreased
risk of developing diseases like Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.
The study consisted of caffeinated dark roast, caffeinated light roast, and
decaffeinated dark roast. The focus was on phenylindane compounds which form
during the process of roasting coffee beans.
Phenylindanes inhibit the aggregation of toxic proteins
which can potentially buildup in the brain resulting in conditions like
Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. Longer roasting times also contribute to
greater amounts of phenylindanes produced from the roasting coffee beans. This
will in turn have the strongest protective effect on the brain.
Figure 1: Phenylindanes
Protein Aggregation is a biological phenomenon in which
mis-folded proteins accumulate which will lead to the neurodegenerative
diseases mentioned. Phenylindanes were found to prevent beta amyloid and tau
proteins from spreading in the brain. A study published in ACS Publications,
The Journal of Physical Chemistry, conducted an experiment to try and determine
the mechanism and mode of caffeine action on amyloid aggregation.
According to Figure 2, with the addition of caffeine, the
ordered B-sheet conformations became negligible. In the presence of caffeine
there is less inter-peptide interaction. By allowing less inter-peptide interaction it
will decrease protein aggregation. Essentially proteins will normally fold
according to their hydrophobic portions which are then stabilized by
non-covalent interactions, when there are changes in these interactions the
protein is susceptible to mis-folding.
The goal of researches is to potentially use these natural
phenylindanes as a treatment option for neurodegenerative conditions.
An interesting post on a potentially important topic. Preventing alzheimers would be of great value. You outline the chemistry quite well. It is probably important to make this chemistry as accessible as possible to as many people as possible, given its importance to health. Your sources are a little specialized. It would be helpful to link to the sources in the text.
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