Coffee 'prevents eye spasm'
Drinking one to two cups a day was found to prevent the eye condition
Also In The News
|
Michael Vaughan has announced his resignation as captain of England's one-day side, while insisting he still has a part to play in the limited-overs game. |  |
Tuesday, 19, Jun 2007 01:52
Drinking coffee could reduce the risk of developing a condition that effectively leaves people 'blind', new research has found.
An involuntary eye spasm known as primary late onset blepharospasm (PLB) makes people blink uncontrollably, affecting their ability to see.
In extreme cases sufferers are left functionally blind despite normal vision as they are unable to prevent their eyes from clamping shut.
Italian researchers found that drinking one to two cups of coffee a day had a protective effect against PLB.
Writing in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, they describe how the age of onset of the spasm was also found to be later in people who drank more coffee - 1.7 years for each additional cup per day.
The researchers found no evidence that smoking could protect against PLB, which has been suggested in earlier studies.
They studied 166 patients with PLB, 228 patients with a similar muscle spasm that usually begins in the eyelid muscles but then spreads to involve other muscles of the face, and 187 people who were relatives of the patients.
The participants were asked if they drank coffee or smoked and, if so, for how many years and how much per day.
"Our findings raise doubt about the association of smoking and blepharospasm but strongly suggest coffee as a protective factor," the write.
"The most obvious candidate for the protective effect is caffeine, but the low frequency of decaffeinated coffee intake in Italy prevented us from examining the effects of caffeine on blepharospasm."
They conclude that the protective effect could be due to caffeine blocking adenosine receptors, a mechanism which has been proposed for protecting against Parkinson's disease.