Plain and simple, Starbucks is my friend. Caffeine from my double espresso, or two, is helping my mobility and stiffness in the morning. I buy Starbucks espresso beans, grind them at home, and make fresh espresso in the morning. Once in a while, I will get a dopio (double espresso) while at the Starbucks store. I am loyal to Starbucks because of the consistency of their espresso. I drink it black with no sweeteners, and it is the same every time. It doesn’t matter if I get it at the store, the kiosk in the mall, the airport (okay, yes, I have been to many Starbucks over the years), or make it at home, it is consistent in aroma, flavor and strength.
Now that I am recognizing its usefulness in better mobility and less stiffness, consistency is crucial. By the way, I am not talking about a caffeine jolt; even my 23andMe.com genetics testing says I am a slow caffeine metabolizer. I am talking about it assisting me in slowly easing into the morning without the heavy, walking-in-the-mud slowness and stiffness I face when I get out of bed.
In Dr. Marjama-Lyons’ book What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Parkinson’s Disease, on pages 314-315, she comments on caffeine:
Caffeine intake has been observed to be associated with a lower
occurrence of Parkinson’s disease. A recent study with the
MPTP mouse model of Parkinson’s disease showed that mice
that were pretreated with caffeine had greater survival of dopa-
mine cells, suggesting that caffeine may have a neuroprotective
effect. Caffeine is thought to bind to adenosine receptors in
the brain and block their activity. Similar results were obtained
with administration of a drug that blocked the A2a adenosine
receptor, and genetically engineered mice that lacked this A2a
adenosine receptor were resistant to MPTP toxicity. Novel
drugs that block these receptors and have similar properties
to caffeine may prove to be neuroprotective of dopamine
brain cells.
If you do a search on Google, you will find much literature on this issue.
All my best,
Howard
