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Drinking coffee can protect people from developing a tic in which an eyelid twitches uncontrollably, an Italian study suggests.
But people with the condition, known as late-onset blepharospasm, should not try to treat it by downing more java, the study's lead author said.
"It is not a cure, but it should prevent the development of blepharospasm," Dr Giovanni Defazio said, adding that other researchers need to confirm the findings.
Late-onset blepharospasm usually strikes people in their 40s and 50s, and belongs to a class of disorders known as dystonias that involve involuntary muscle contractions.
Other types of dystonia include writer's cramp and musician's cramp.
Following up on a study that suggested smoking protected against the development of late-onset blepharospasm, Defazio and his team looked at coffee and cigarette intake in 166 people with the condition, comparing them to 228 hospitalised individuals with a different type of facial spasm and 187 control subjects.
While there was no link between tobacco intake and the likelihood of developing blepharospasm, people who drank coffee were less likely to have late onset blepharospasm - and the more coffee they drank, the lower their risk - the researchers report in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry. "We don't know exactly what is in the coffee that has a preventive effect, but the most likely candidate is caffeine," Defazio said.
He pointed out that caffeine acts on receptors in a part of the brain that plays a key role in the control of movement. He and his colleagues are now planning to investigate whether coffee may reduce the risk of other types of dystonias, and perhaps prevent dystonias from spreading from one part of the body to another.
- Reuters
