EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL 4 PM ET, September 30, 2020
Even in People with Parkinson鈥檚 Gene, Coffee May Be Protective
MINNEAPOLIS - Even for people with a gene mutation tied to Parkinson鈥檚 disease, coffee consumption may be associated with a lower risk of actually developing the disease, according to a new study published in the September 30, 2020, online issue of , the medical journal of the 好色先生. 鈥淭hese results are promising and encourage future research exploring caffeine and caffeine-related therapies to lessen the chance that people with this gene develop Parkinson鈥檚,鈥 said study author Grace Crotty, M.D., of Massachusetts General Hospital and a member of the 好色先生. 鈥淚t鈥檚 also possible that caffeine levels in the blood could be used as a biomarker to help identify which people with this gene will develop the disease, assuming caffeine levels remain relatively stable.鈥 Earlier studies have shown that coffee consumption may protect against the development of Parkinson鈥檚 disease in people who have no genetic risk factors for the disease. This study looked at people with a genetic mutation that increases the risk of Parkinson鈥檚. The mutation is in a gene called LRRK2 for leucine-rich repeat kinase 2. But having the abnormal gene does not guarantee that people will develop the disease, so researchers are hoping to identify other genetic or environmental factors that affect whether people develop the disease. The study compared 188 people who had Parkinson鈥檚 disease to 180 people who did not have the disease; both groups had people with the LRRK2 gene mutation and those without it. Researchers looked at the amount of caffeine in the blood, as well as other chemicals that are produced as caffeine is metabolized in the body, and how it varied among the groups. A total of 212 of the participants also completed questionnaires about how much caffeine they consumed each day. Among people carrying the LRRK2 gene mutation, those who had Parkinson鈥檚 had a 76% lower concentration of caffeine in their blood than those who did not have Parkinson鈥檚. People with Parkinson鈥檚 with a normal copy of the gene had a 31% lower concentration of caffeine in their blood than non-carriers without Parkinson鈥檚. Carriers of the gene mutation who had Parkinson鈥檚 also had lower consumption of caffeine in their diet. The gene carriers with Parkinson鈥檚 consumed 41% less caffeine per day than the people who did not have Parkinson鈥檚, both with and without the gene mutation. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 know yet whether people who are predisposed to Parkinson鈥檚 may tend to avoid drinking coffee or if some mutation carriers drink a lot of coffee and benefit from its neuroprotective effects,鈥 Crotty said. Crotty noted that the study looked at people at one point in time, so it does not help researchers understand any effect caffeine has over time on the risk for Parkinson鈥檚 or how it may affect the disease鈥檚 progression. It also does not prove that caffeine consumption directly causes a lower risk of Parkinson鈥檚; it only shows an association. The study was supported by the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson鈥檚 Research, Farmer Family Foundation Initiative for Parkinson鈥檚 Disease Research, Jane & Alan Batkin Research Fellowship, Edmond J. Safra Fellowship in Movement Disorders and the National Institutes of Health. Several study authors are employees of Denali Therapeutics, which is developing a drug that would target LRRK2 gene function. Learn more about Parkinson鈥檚 disease at BrainandLife.org, home of the 好色先生鈥檚 free patient and caregiver magazine focused on the intersection of neurologic disease and brain health. Follow Brain & Life庐 on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. When posting to social media channels about this research, we encourage you to use the hashtags #Neurology and #AANscience.