As a regular coffee drinker, I am always excited to discuss any new study that shows daily coffee consumption has health benefits, such as reducing the risk of dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.

I have previously written about how coffee reduces the risk of dementia or other health issues. Also, it’s nice to write about something in healthcare that has nothing to do with vaccines.

More and more data show a correlation between tea and coffee consumption (as long as it is not decaffeinated) and reduced dementia risk. As I usually do, this post will examine the new study and determine if it provides more evidence of the benefits of drinking your daily cup of joe.

What is dementia and Alzheimer’s disease?

Before I proceed, it’s important to describe Alzheimer’s disease (AD). It is a chronic neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and worsens over time. It accounts for 60-70% of dementia cases, even though the terms are sometimes used interchangeably. Alzheimer’s disease is a form of dementia.

Amyloid plaques, phosphorylated tau tangles, and neurofibrillary tangles are generally easily visible pathologies that can be observed by microscopic analysis of brain tissue from autopsies of those potentially afflicted by AD. These plaques and tangles seem to affect nerve functioning. Despite these observations, the precise pathophysiology, or development, of the disease is not known.

Since amyloid plaques are often identified in patients with Alzheimer’s disease, a large amount of research is focused on attacking those plaques as a way to reverse the effect on nerves, which leads to AD.

The causes of AD are unknown. However, it is speculated that it is mostly genetic, with a large number of genes involved. Despite the internet tropes, there is no rigorous evidence that aluminum causes AD.

Since we have no clear understanding of the etiology and pathophysiology of AD, few treatments are available today. Some drugs target the amyloid plaques but have not been shown to change the outcomes of AD.

A couple of medications help manage some of the disease’s symptoms, but they are certainly not cures. Several drugs at the earliest stages of development may hold out hope of treating the underlying disease.

One more thing that needs to be made clear. There are no biological tests for Alzheimer’s disease — usually, you can only find the amyloid plaques and other pathologies in post-mortem autopsies. Unfortunately, in the absence of an autopsy, clinical diagnoses of AD are “possible” or “probable”, based on other findings, such as memory tests and other methods.

Daily coffee and tea consumption and dementia risk article

In a paper published on 9 February 2026 in JAMA, Dong Wang, MD, ScD, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, and colleagues examined whether long-term intake of caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee was associated with risk of dementia and other cognitive outcomes. The researchers examined 131,821 participants from the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS) and Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (HPFS) with up to 43 years of follow-up. This is one of the largest studies to examine the correlation between coffee consumption and the risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

Wang and colleagues followed 86,606 women in the NHS from 1980 to 2023 and 45,215 men in the HPFS from 1986 to 2023, all of whom did not have cancer, Parkinson’s disease, or dementia at baseline. This prospective cohort study included 131,821 individuals from 2 cohorts with up to 43 years of follow-up, and 11,033 dementia cases were documented

Here are the key results of the study:

• After adjusting for potential confounders and pooling results across cohorts, over a median follow-up of 36.8 years, health professionals in the highest quartile of coffee drinking had an 18% lower risk of dementia compared with those in the lowest quartile.
• Coffee drinkers also showed a 15% reduced prevalence of subjective cognitive decline.
• Approximately two to three cups of caffeinated coffee or one to two cups of tea a day were associated with the lowest risk of dementia.

The authors concluded:

Greater consumption of caffeinated coffee and tea was associated with lower risk of dementia and modestly better cognitive function, with the most pronounced association at moderate intake levels.

Summary

Before I go any further, I have to remind the reader that this study shows a correlation between coffee and tea consumption and a lower risk of dementia. There may be something about the cohort of individuals who drink caffeinated coffee and tea that makes them have a lower risk of dementia and cognitive decline.

Maybe individuals who drink coffee and tea have other behaviors that lower dementia risk.

That being said, there is a large body of evidence, including this new study, that strongly supports the correlation. As a regular coffee drinker (always caffeinated), I feel less guilty about those cups of coffee in the morning, because they may help my brain work better.

There does not appear to be any health risks of consuming moderate amounts of coffee or tea, though that may not be true of consuming large amounts. Thus, the benefits, at least in terms of dementia risk, may far outweigh any risks.

Well, I’ve been accused of being a Big Pharma Shill, so now I guess I’ll be called a Big Coffee Shill. Maybe I’ll get a free Starbucks venti latte for writing this article.

Citations

• Zhang Y, Liu Y, Li Y, Li Y, Gu X, Kang JH, Eliassen AH, Wang M, Rimm EB, Willett WC, Hu FB, Stampfer MJ, Wang DD. Coffee and Tea Intake, Dementia Risk, and Cognitive Function. JAMA. 2026 Feb 9:e2527259. doi: 10.1001/jama.2025.27259. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 41661604; PMCID: PMC12887839.

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