How coffee keeps you young

Last updated at 15:22 17 October 2006


Drinking coffee can keep the brain healthy, according to new research.

A ten-year study found that men who drank three cups of coffee a day had the smallest mental decline as they got older.

Researchers at the National Institute For Public Health And The Environment in the Netherlands analysed cognitive decline in elderly men over ten years.

A total of 676 men from a number of countries in Europe took tests that measured the effect of coffee on their cognitive performance.

The mental decline in non-drinkers was more than four times greater than in those who drank three cups.

One theory for this is that caffeine might boost memory by having an effect on brain receptors.

Patients with high blood pressure are being prescribed cocoa.

A study by the U.S. National Institute Of Health is examining whether drinking two cups of cocoa a day lowers blood pressure.

Doctors say the cocoa will affect the way patients with hypertension respond to insulin, the hormone secreted by the pancreas that regulates blood sugar levels.

How cocoa works is not clear, but laboratory studies suggest that flavanols, naturally occurring antioxidants found in cocoa, have beneficial effects on the vascular system, and improve insulin sensitivity.

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