Hacker News Reader

Comment by ETH_start | Hacker News Reader

I'm still spitballing here, but I speculate it's because caffeine increases calorie consumption*, reducing diabetes risk. Diabetes is a major risk factor for dementia.

*calorie expenditure

View on HN

Another possibility: Coffee intake is a proxy measurement for bitter taste tolerance, as many people take theirs without sugar. As healthy vegetables and low sugar foodstuff tend to be bitter, coffee and healthy food may be correlated to some measure.

I'm trying to find an explanation for why people who drink caffeinated coffee have a much lower risk of dementia than people who drink decaffeinated coffee.

Could be the case caffeine actually gets you addicted to bitter taste, instead of just indicating people with bitter taste preference, Pavlov style? Coffee is bitter, coffee is addictive. Perhaps this addiction to bitterness transfer to other foodstuff (vegetables). Decaffeinated coffee wouldn't allow the same transfer, by lack of the addictive ingredient.

Yes that has logical consistency at least.

A: The cardiovascular impact of caffeine on blood circulation through the brain and its stimulation of the enteric nervous system.

Excuse the basic question- is that a typo, or do you really mean that higher calorie intake reduces diabetes risk?

If that is correct, why?

I thought higher calorie intake leads to weight gain which increases diabetes risk.

Sorry I meant calorie burning. Consumption in the sense of metabolizing it.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com