A recent study carried out by researchers at the University of South Florida have found that a yet unknown component of coffee interacting with caffeine can have neuroprotective qualities. Previous studies had already shown that daily in-take of coffee in mid-life and in old age can prevent the onset of Alzheimer's disease and this was attributed to caffeine. However, researchers who have engineered rats to develop Alzheimer's disease and have found in those who drink coffee an important growth factor which decreases in people with the condition actually increases in those with caffeine in their diet. The growth factor called granuloycte colony stimulating factor (GCSF) appears to be be stimulated into production. The amount of coffee however, believed to be required to protect humans from Alzheimer's disease is 4-5 cups a day, far above the national average 1.5-2 cups a day. It is hoped that understanding the mechanism that produces the GCSF might allow for production of a drug to stimulate it in the same way as caffeine.
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