Posted by Mike on April 4th, 2008 in anti aging, biology

How did they know?

http://www.physorg.com/news126417255.html

Research for the cop in all of us! Now it is finally scientifically verified that the cops had it right all along. Coffee and donuts are good for us all, or at least the coffee is good for you if you eat too many donuts.

If you have been reading my blog for more than a few weeks, you would know that inflammation is near and dear to my heart, and brain and well, whatever. Now from the University of North Dakota comes evidence that if you drink coffee with your donuts, the caffeine in the coffee bolsters the blood brain barrier (BBB) to protect your brains from the inflammatory effects of high cholesterol. Somehow, high cholesterol attacks the BBB and renders it “leaky” which makes it more susceptible to blood borne attackers like whatever causes Alzheimer’s, and caffeine fixes the leaks!

Now no one really knows what is the bad actor in Alzheimer’s really is except they think it include prions. Prions are proteins which are really not alive, they are just weirdly folded protein bits which induce some of our brain’s proteins to coagulate into plaques which kills your brain, eventually.

Obviously, if caffeine can keep your BBB from becoming leaky, then the prions can’t get to your brain. At least that the theory. On the other hand, I don’t think that anyone really knows where prions come from, or for that matter what really causes Alzheimer’s EXCEPT that there seems to be a cholesterol connection.

Now, I am not going to tell you to avoid the high cholesterol thing, which would be the most sensible think to do if you were worried about your blood brain barrier, but I will tell you that if you must indulge in high cholesterol, at least drink your coffee with it. And by the way, tell a cop, make their day!