Examining caffeine consumption in Ireland and its association with cognitive performance

Background: Caffeine is one of the most widely consumed psychostimulants worldwide and is increasingly being added to a variety of consumable and external- use products including beverages, medications, workout supplements, and cosmetics. The health benefits, cognitive enhancing effects, and neuroprotective effects of caffeine have long been studied with recent reviews indicating a strong neuroprotective link between regular caffeine consumption and improved cognition and lower dementia risk. Additional clinical research is needed to support the link whilst accounting for confounding variables between individuals. It is estimated that there has been an increase in caffeine consumption in the Irish population, but no research study confirmed this to date. Aim: To survey caffeine consumption habits in Irish adults and investigate its association with cognitive lapses. Additionally, to gather data on potential confounding variables related to dementia risk, aiding future longitudinal research examining the neuroprotective effects of caffeine on dementia risk and Alzheimer's disease. Method: A survey was developed based on an internet search of tools assessing caffeine intake. The Cognitive Failures Questionnaire (CFQ), a self-report measure of everyday cognitive lapses, was included as a cognitive screening measure. A total of 968 adults living in Ireland participated in the study, with 586 completing the survey in full. Responses were collected via Qualtrics. Pearson’s correlation analysis was used to examine the association between CFQ scores and caffeine intake. Results: The mean daily caffeine intake was 361.29mg (SD=312.02) and the mean CFQ score was 40.5 (SD=16.9). A very weak but statistically significant positive correlation was detected between CFQ scores and daily caffeine intake (N=600, r=0.09, p=0.03). A similarly weak but non-significant positive correlation was observed between coffee intake specifically and CFQ scores (N=485, r=0.09, p=0.051). Conclusion: Coffee was the most popular caffeinated beverage consumed amongst Irish adults in this sample. This was the first study to examine caffeine intake habits across various products consumed by adults in Ireland. Likely due to the large sample size, a statistically significant but negligible correlation was found between CFQ scores and daily caffeine intake. Future epidemiological studies investigating the link between caffeine and cognition should collect extensive longitudinal data on cognitive performance using a comprehensive battery of cognitive assessments, along with neuroimaging data and information on genetic variability. This is especially important within subgroups of dementia patients and healthy controls to draw robust conclusions about the neuroprotective effects of caffeine. Future analyses should also focus on examining the individual effects of confounding variables, such as age, gender, lifestyle factors, and comorbidities, to better understand their influence on the relationship between caffeine intake and cognitive performance.

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University of Galway

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Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

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University of Galway Theses (Research Masters Theses)