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Drinking more than three cups of coffee a day helps protect older women against some age-related memory decline, French researchers say, giving women more reason to love the world's most popular stimulant.
Men did not enjoy the same benefit, they said.
"The more coffee one drank, the better the effects seemed to be on (women's) memory functioning in particular," said Karen Ritchie at the French National Institute of Medical Research, whose work appears in the journal, Neurology.
The study found women who drank more than three cups of coffee per day, or its caffeine equivalent in tea, retained more of their verbal and - to a lesser extent - visual memories over four years.
Women over 80 reaping more benefits from these beverages than those who were 10 to 15 years younger.
Some studies in mice have suggested that caffeine might block the buildup of proteins that lead to mental decline.
Ritchie is not sure why only women benefited in her study.
"Our best guess is that women don't metabolise coffee in the same way (as men)," she said.
- REUTERS
