Advantages and disadvantages of drinking coffee caffeine can improve memory

A research team at Hokkaido University in Japan recently confirmed that nerve cells in the hippocampus, which is responsible for memory and learning, form memory by the same mechanism as myocardial cells, and eating caffeinated foods such as coffee can enhance their activity. improve memory.

Caffeine has been known to contract muscles in the past, but the researchers added caffeine to slices of the hippocampus of rats, and the results showed that the concentration of calcium in nerve cells increased within 30 to 60 minutes. the signal transmission of the nervous system has also become very good.

It is reported that the increase in calcium concentration is due to the more active activity of a protein called Renodine II receptor. This protein is also abundant in cardiomyocytes, which can release calcium ions stored in "small cell bodies" in the cells, thus causing the heart muscle to contract. The researchers believe that the enhancement mechanism of this memory formation function in the hippocampus should be the same as that of myocardial contraction.

Because of the high concentration of caffeine used in this experiment, the effect on nerve cells is obvious, but if you want to improve your memory by drinking coffee every day, the concentration may not be enough and will not have any effect. However, the researchers say that if a substance with the same effect as caffeine can be developed in the future, it is believed to play an important role in developing drugs to treat dementia.