TAMPA – The Byrd Alzheimer’s Institute in Tampa announced today that it is conducting human trials replicating its innovative caffeine study, which showed that long-term caffeine intake reduced the risk of Alzheimer’s disease in mice.

“The link between caffeine and Alzheimer’s is a fascinating one teeming with possibility for both present and future Alzheimer’s patients and their families” said Dr. Huntington Potter, CEO and scientific director of the Byrd Alzheimer’s Institute. “These human trials are the second crucial step to investigating whether caffeine can have a truly therapeutic effect on our brains.”

Byrd Alzheimer’s Institute researcher Gary Arendash, Ph.D., documented promising outcomes in mice in a previous caffeine study, the results of which were published in the journal Neuroscience last year. (http://www.byrdinstitute.org/research/)

The Byrd Alzheimer’s Institute’s prior research showed that the human equivalent of five cups of coffee per day (500 mg/day) protected mice with Alzheimer’s against certain memory impairments and reduced disease pathology. In the study, Dr. Arendash and fellow researchers gave Alzheimer’s mice caffeine in their drinking water and then tested the mice in a variety of tasks involving learning, memory and recognition. Across multiple behavioral measures, the Alzheimer’s mice given caffeine performed much better than those given normal drinking water.

The researchers also tested levels of beta-amyloid – proteins that cause the death and dysfunction of brain cells – in the mice’s brains. Again, the Alzheimer’s mice given caffeine had much less beta-amyloid present than those given normal drinking water.

“Caffeine is not just treating the symptoms of Alzheimer’s,” Dr. Arendash explained, “It is actually treating the disease pathologies.”

Now the Byrd Alzheimer’s Institute is replicating its groundbreaking caffeine study in human trials. Researchers will conduct the study by monitoring participants’ levels of beta-amyloid proteins, which are substances in blood that act as a marker for the presence of Alzheimer’s in humans.

Researchers will give participants caffeine tablets containing the equivalent amount of caffeine in five cups of coffee. Over the course of two days, the scientists will measure blood levels of beta-amyloid proteins. If the levels are reduced in the blood, that is a good indicator that the beta-amyloid levels would also be reduced in the brain.

The use of caffeine could revolutionize the treatment of Alzheimer’s, Dr. Potter explained. Unlike prescription drugs, which can be expensive and hard to obtain for some people, caffeine is readily available and affordable. If it proves to be effective, caffeine could be administered through tablets.

Alzheimer’s, a neurodegenerative disease that results in the loss of brain cells and their connections, affects 4.5 million Americans and costs the U.S. economy $100 billion a year. Ten percent of people age 65 and older and half of those ages 85 and older have the disease.

The Byrd Alzheimer’s Institute recently opened a state-of-the-art research facility on the campus of the University of South Florida in Tampa to continue its important work. The institute is the world’s largest freestanding Alzheimer’s research facility.

Created in 2002 by the Florida Legislature, the Johnnie B. Byrd, Sr., Alzheimer’s Center & Research Institute is dedicated to supporting and coordinating the tremendous research, expertise and creative vision of scientific professionals all over Florida. The National Institutes of Health designated the Byrd Institute and the University of South Florida as an Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center generating more than $7 million in research money. There are only 32 of these centers in the country, and Florida is one of only 21 states with centers that have earned the designation.

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