New study shows caffeine may fight multiple sclerosis

OKLAHOMA CITY A recently released animal study report said that caffeine might prevent multiple sclerosis, according to a team of scientists at Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation.

Researchers found that mice given the caffeine equivalent of six to eight cups of coffee per day did not develop the animal equivalent of MS, said Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation’s Dr. Linda Thompson. The finding was reported in this week’s Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences publication.

Thompson said that coffee was effective in protecting against MS because it prevented adenosine molecules, which make up one of the four parts of DNA, from binding to adenosine receptors on the cellular level.

The National Multiple Sclerosis Society has described multiple sclerosis as an autoimmune disease that affects about 400,000 Americans.

Researchers said that they hope to use the new finding about caffeine to develop a treatment using drugs that could degrade adenosine, prevent its formation, or block harmful cells from entering the central nervous system.