Multiple Sclerosis Risk Is Lowered With Coffee

Coffee may decrease the risk of multiple sclerosis (MS), according to new research conducted by officials at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

"Coffee/caffeine intake seems to be protective against Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease, leading to a question of whether it might also be important for MS, another central nervous system disorder," study author Dr. Ellen Mowry, an assistant professor of neurology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore and a member of the American Academy of Neurology, said via Fox News.

Statistics show that close to 2.3 million people worldwide suffer from this disease of the nervous system that disrupts information that's sent between the brain and the body. Many of the symptoms are oftentimes unpredictable and while there is no cure, medications and therapies can make the problem treatable.

For the study, researchers compared data from two studies: one Swedish study of 1,620 people with MS and 2,807 healthy people, along with a U.S. study of 1,159 people with MS and 1,172 healthy people.

The studies characterized coffee consumption among MS patients both before symptoms began and compared it to after they drank coffee to those who did not have MS, all in a similar time frame.

Findings concluded that people who did not drink coffee were about one and a half times more likely to develop MS than those who drank at least six cups of coffee per day in the Swedish study. In the United States, the results showed that those who drank coffee were about one and a half times more likely to develop the disease than individuals who consumed four cups of coffee per day.

"That being said, if the results are true, there are many compounds in coffee, so it's not clear which compound might be the cause. Caffeine is an attractive candidate and can impact the immune system, so perhaps it helps to combat the autoimmune process in some way," she said.

More research is needed to confirm the link between the two.