AHA: Coffee, Depression, and Cardiovascular Risk

The cholesterol-lowering drug lipitor slowed down mental decline and improved depressive symptoms in people with Alzheimer’s disease, according to a small study reported at the American Heart Association’s annual meeting.

The cholesterol-lowering drug lipitor slows down mental decline and improves depressive symptoms in people with Alzheimer’s disease, according to a small study reported at the American Heart Association’s annual meeting. The researchers tested the effects of lowering cholesterol in people with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer’s disease. Lipitor was given along with typical Alzheimer’s medicines already FDA approved for slowing disease progression.

On mental status tests, after one year, those on lipitor had no mental decline, while those using only the Alzheimer’s medicines did show decline. Also, after a year, the patients on lipitor showed a significant improvement in their symptoms of depression, a common problem in Alzheimer’s patients. The authors say "this is the first off-label use of a drug tested in Alzheimer’s patients in the last 10 years that has shown potential benefit". Women with recently diagnosed coronary heart disease are often depressed, but is the depression a consequence of or a contributor to disease severity?

In a new study, 139 women who had new-onset chest pain underwent 24-hour electrocardiogram monitoring and heart rate analysis. Depressive symptoms were rated on a standard scale, with the women grouped as severely, mildly or non-depressed. The severely depressed group had almost three silent episodes of decreased blood flow to the heart muscles, compared to practically none for the mildly depressed group. That silent, slowed blood flow to heart muscle in women with new chest pain occurred not only in women with coronary heart disease, but also in women with completely normal heart arteries with no blockages--suggesting mood can improve or worsen blood flow to the heart. This might suggest that women with heart disease, in New York and elsewhere, should be followed-up for depression or anxiety which might worsen their condition.

New research from Harvard scientists shows coffee can potentially protect against heart disease. It’s known that regular coffee consumption is associated with a reduced risk of diabetes and possibly high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease, but why is not really known. The researchers found that women who drink coffee have lower levels of something called c-peptide, which is a part of insulin. High levels of c-peptide indicate diabetes or pre-diabetes. So, it appears coffee drinking may be preventing the development of diabetes and therefore all the complications that go along with it, including cardiovascular disease. The larger the amount of coffee ingested, the lower the level of c-peptide.

Women who drank more than four cups of caffeinated or decaffeinated coffee a day had c-peptide levels 13 percent and 14 percent lower, respectively, than women who never drank coffee. The association was much stronger in obese women and overweight women than in normal-weight women. The researchers say the findings suggest a potential reduction of insulin secretion by both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee in women, and the potential implications appear particularly important for obese and overweight women in New York and elsewhere.