OBJECTIVES

There is accumulating evidence that coffee consumption may reduce risk for type 2 diabetes, a known risk factor for Alzheimer's and other neurological diseases. Coffee consumption is also associated with reduced risk for Alzheimer's disease and non-Alzheimer's dementias. However, preventive and therapeutic development of coffee is complicated by the cardiovascular side effects of caffeine intake. As coffee is also a rich source of chlorogenic acids and many bioactive compounds other than caffeine, we hypothesized that decaffeinated coffee drinks may exert beneficial effects on the brain.

METHODS

We have investigated whether dietary supplementation with a standardized decaffeinated green coffee preparation, Svetol®, might modulate diet-induced insulin resistance and brain energy metabolism dysfunction in a high-fat diet mouse model.

RESULTS

As expected, dietary supplementation with Svetol® significantly attenuated the development of high-fat diet-induced deficits in glucose-tolerance response. We have also found that Svetol®) treatment improved brain mitochondrial energy metabolism as determined by oxygen consumption rate. Consistent with this evidence, follow-up gene expression profiling with Agilent whole-genome microarray revealed that the decaffeinated coffee treatment modulated a number of genes in the brain that are implicated in cellular energy metabolism.

DISCUSSION

Our evidence is the first demonstration that dietary supplementation with a decaffeinated green coffee preparation may beneficially influence the brain, in particular promoting brain energy metabolic processes.