Caffeine could help some Parkinson’s symptoms

CTVNews.ca Staff Published Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2012 2:01PM EDT Last Updated Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2012 5:02PM EDT

Drinking caffeine each day might help Parkinsons patients move a little easier, making their walking more fluid and improving their quality of life, new Canadian research has found.

The researchers say the improvements are small, but their research suggests theres something about caffeine that blocks malfunctioning brain signals in Parkinsons patients.

The finding was a surprising one and came during a study to test caffeine as a treatment for daytime sleepiness among Parkinsons patients. Though it didnt do much for keeping fatigue at bay, it did seem to help with movement.

The study looked at 61 people with Parkinsons disease with symptoms of daytime sleepiness as well as the tremors, rigidity and slow movement that marks the brain disease.

The volunteers were given either a placebo pill or a pill with 100 milligrams of caffeine, twice a day for three weeks. The dose was then bumped up to 200 milligrams twice a day for three weeks -- the equivalent of between two and four cups of coffee per day.

The researchers report in the journal Neurology that the caffeine didnt really help improve sleepiness. But it did help with some Parkinsons symptoms.

After the six weeks of study, the patients who had taken the caffeine saw an improvement of about five points in Parkinsons severity ratings, compared to those who didnt take the caffeine.

The caffeine group also averaged a three-point improvement in the speed of movement and amount of stiffness, compared to the placebo group.

Though the improvements were small, they were enough that patients noticed them, says study author Dr. Ronald Postuma, with the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre.

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Caffeine could help some Parkinson’s symptoms