High daily coffee consumption may lower MS risk

I have wondered if humans have been consuming caffeine long enough to have adapted to it, and thus need it for optimal health? Like we and other animals are healthier and have fewer allergies and autoimmune disease when we have a certain level of exposure to microbes and parasites.

I can't stand the taste of coffee, and six cups of coffee would send me up the wall, I hope that eating well otherwise, and drinking green tea & yerba mate, which contain caffeine, will have a beneficial effect.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-03/b-hdc030116.php

Public Release: 3-Mar-2016
High daily coffee consumption may lower MS risk
Caffeine's neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory properties may explain link
BMJ

Drinking a lot of coffee every day--more than 900 ml (30 fluid ounces) or around six cups--is linked to a reduced risk of multiple sclerosis (MS), finds research published online in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery & Psychiatry.

Caffeine, a central nervous system stimulant, has neuroprotective properties and can suppress the production of chemicals involved in the inflammatory response, which may explain the association found, suggest the researchers.

While it remains to be seen whether coffee drinking could ward off the development of MS, cautions a linked editorial, the findings add to the growing body of evidence indicating that coffee may be good for our health, it suggests.

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The results showed that the risk of MS was consistently higher among those drinking fewer cups of coffee every day in both studies, even after taking account of potentially important influential factors, such as smoking, and weight during the teenage years.

In the Swedish study, coffee consumption was associated with a reduced risk of MS both at the start of symptoms and 5 and 10 years beforehand, with a 28-30% lower risk among those drinking more than six cups (900 ml +) every day.

Similar results were found in the US study, with a 26-31% lower risk among those drinking more than 948 ml daily at least five years beforehand and at the start of symptoms compared with those who never drank coffee.

The higher the quantity of coffee drunk, the lower the risk of MS, the results showed.

This is an observational study, so no firm conclusions can be drawn about cause and effect, added to which changes in coffee consumption between an MS diagnosis and data collection could have influenced the results, while inaccurate recall of coffee consumption can't be ruled out, say the researchers.

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