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Study: Smoking, Caffeine Reduce Parkinson’s Risk New research from Duke University reveals an inverse link between heavy coffee consumption and smoking, and patients suffering from Parkinson’s disease 
Researchers at Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N.C., have located an inverse link between smoking and caffeine consumption and patients with Parkinson’s disease. Dana B. Hancock, B.S., and colleagues examined the effects in 365 Parkinson’s patients and 317 family members without the disease, and discovered that affected individuals are less likely to smoke or consume high doses of caffeine compared to their unaffected kin. The report, published in the April edition of Archives of Neurology, states that while the scientific reason for the correlation remains a mystery, it undeniably exists. “Given the complexity of Parkinson’s disease, these environmental factors likely do not exert their effects in isolation, thus highlighting the importance of gene-environment interactions in determining Parkinson’s disease susceptibility,” the report states. “Smoking and caffeine possibly modify genetic effects in families with Parkinson’s disease and should be considered as effect modifiers in candidate gene studies for Parkinson’s disease.” This does not mean that those with a strong hereditary likelihood of developing Parkinson’s disease should take up smoking, or drink excess coffee for that matter. What it does mean is that further studies could reveal properties of both cigarettes and coffee that will be effective in combating the onset of the disease, which is good news for researchers and sufferers, alike.
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