General Health Caffeine may help prevent MS
By Ben Wasserman
Jul 1, 2008 - 4:04:45 PM
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TUESDAY July 1, 2008 (foodconsumer.org) -- Caffeine may help
prevent multiple sclerosis, am autoimmune disease affecting about 400,000
people in the U.S., a new animal study suggests.
The study showed mice receiving a daily dose of caffeine
equivalent to the amount in 6 to 8 cups of coffee prevented mice from a
condition similar to human MS.
The study was conducted by Dr. Linda Thompson, of the
Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation and colleagues and the findings were reported
in this week's issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Thompson explained caffeine prevented adenosine, one of the
four building blocks of DNA, from binding to the adenosine receptor, a maneuver
that is necessary for T-cells to reach the central nervous system and cause the
animal version of MS.