Dementia affects no fewer than 55 million people worldwide, with almost 10 million new cases each year, according to the World Health Organization. Between 60% and 70% of these cases involve Alzheimer’s disease, while around 8.5 million people were affected by Parkinson’s as of 2019.
These are two conditions for which there is currently no cure, and for which the cost of care continues to rise every year. That’s why scientists are working to find a drug that could change the game, and potentially prevent these diseases in millions of people.
Researchers at the University of Texas at El Paso in the United States seem to have found a serious avenue of exploration – through coffee grounds.
More precisely, the “caffeic-acid based carbon quantum dots (CACQDs)” that can be obtained from coffee grounds are said to be capable of protecting brain cells from damage caused by certain neurodegenerative diseases.
However, scientists warn that this solution is only possible if the disease results from lifestyle or environmental factors, such as obesity, age, or exposure to pesticides and other toxic chemicals.
“CACQDs have the potential to be transformative in the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders. None of the current treatments resolve the diseases; they only help manage the symptoms.
“Our aim is to find a cure by addressing the atomic and molecular underpinnings that drive these conditions,” said Jyotish Kumar of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Texas at El Paso.
Published in the journal Environmental Research, this research is based on a specific, environmentally friendly process for extracting CACQDs from coffee grounds.
The scientists baked samples of coffee grounds at 200° for four hours to form these compounds. These substances were shown to be neuroprotective in test-tube experiments, with the ability to remove free radicals, among other things.
This discovery suggests that a treatment based on these compounds could help prevent Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s when in a “very early stage” in humans – with the conditions as stated above.
“It is critical to address these disorders before they reach the clinical stage. At that point, it is likely too late,” Mahesh Narayan, who oversaw the research, noted. “Any current treatments that can address advanced symptoms of neurodegenerative disease are simply beyond the means of most people.
“Our aim is to come up with a solution that can prevent most cases of these conditions at a cost that is manageable for as many patients as possible.”
The researchers are now looking for additional funding to enable them to further pursue this research.