Coffee intake linked to occurrence of Parkinson disease

5/24/2000-According to an article appearing in the May 24/31 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), higher coffee and caffeine intake is associated with lower incidence of Parkinson disease. G. Webster Ross, M.D., from the Department of Veterans Affairs, Honolulu, and colleagues analyzed data from a 30-year follow-up study of 8,004 Japanese-American men (aged 45 - 68 years). "Age-adjusted incidence of Parkinson disease declined consistently with increased amounts of coffee intake, from 10.4 per 10,000 person-years in men who drank no coffee to 1.9 per 10,000 person-years in men who drank at least 28 ounces a day. Similar relationships were observed with total caffeine intake and caffeine from non-coffee sources. Consumption of increasing amounts of coffee was also associated with lower risk of Parkinson disease in men who were never, past and current smokers at baseline." The researchers found that for nondrinkers of coffee, after adjusting for age and cigarette smoking, the risk of Parkinson disease was two to three times greater than for the coffee drinkers. The researchers believe that this is the first prospective study demonstrating a significant inverse association between coffee consumption measured during midlife and incidence of Parkinson disease with a dose-response relationship.