Can caffeine levels in the blood help in the diagnosis of the Parkinson’s disease?

A new study found that caffeine levels in the blood can help in the diagnosis of the Parkinson’s disease. The results that were published on January 3, 2018, stated that the people suffering from Parkinson’s disease have a significantly lower level of caffeine in their blood as compared to people not affected by the disease, even if the consumed amount of caffeine is same.

“Previous studies have shown a link between caffeine and a lower risk of developing Parkinson’s disease, but we haven’t known much about how caffeine metabolises within the people with the disease”, said study author Shinji Saiki, MD, PhD, of the Juntendo University School of Medicine in Tokyo, Japan. According to David G Munoz, MD of the University of Toronto in Canada, who authored an accompanying editorial about the study, said that the people with more severe stages of Parkinson’s did not have lower levels of caffeine in their blood, suggesting the decrease only occurred in the earliest stages of the disease.

“If these results can be confirmed, they would point to an easy test for early diagnosis of Parkinson’s, possibly even before symptoms are appearing”, Munoz said, adding, “This is important because Parkinson’s disease is difficult to diagnose, especially at the early stages.”

As part of the research, the coffee consumption for the groups was monitored to the same amount with an average equivalent of about two cups of coffee per day. However, the people with Parkinson’s had lower caffeine and 11 by-product levels in their blood. The caffeine level was an average of 79 picomoles per 10 microlitres for people without Parkinson’s disease, compared to 24 picomoles per 10 microlitres for people with the disease. For one of the by-products, the level was below the amount that could be detected in more than 50 per cent of the people with Parkinson’s disease.

The research was published in the online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.