Moderate amounts of java may protect you from Parkinson's disease (PD), reported Harvard University researchers this week. Among nearly 50,000 men who were followed for 10 years, those who consumed the most caffeine, primarily in coffee, had the lowest risk for developing Parkinson's disease. But the relationship between caffeine and PD was less clear in a related study of more than 88,000 women followed for two decades.Among the more than 130,000 subjects in the combined studies, the Harvard researchers identified 288 cases of PD. They found that men who were in the top fifth of caffeine consumers had about half the risk of developing PD as those in the bottom fifth. Among women, however, the relationship was less clear. Researchers will continue to investigate these preliminary findings.
