New research has found that a cup of espresso ─ even in an espresso martini ─ not only gives you a jolt of energy but may also prevent Alzheimer’s disease. In laboratory tests, espresso compounds inhibited tau protein aggregation, a process believed to be involved in the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.

Roughly half of all Americans drink coffee every day, and espresso is a popular way to consume it, according to a news release from the American Chemical Society. To “pull” an espresso shot, hot water is forced through finely ground coffee beans, creating a concentrated extract. This is often the base for other drinks, including the trendy espresso martini.

Editor's Note: Worried About Forgetting Things? Try Dr. Blaylock's Brain Boosters. 

The new study, published in the American Chemical Society’s Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry, has added to recent research that suggests that coffee has beneficial effects against neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease.

In healthy people, tau proteins help stabilize structures in the brain, but when certain diseases develop, the protein can clump together into fibrils. Some researchers speculate that preventing this aggregation could alleviate symptoms. The Italian researchers in the current study used complete espresso extract and other compounds such as caffeine, genistein and theobromine found in chocolate for their in vitro experiment. They incubated them with shortened forms of tau protein for 40 hours.  As the concentration of espresso extract, caffeine or genistein increased, fibrils were shorter and did not form larger sheets, with the espresso extract showing the most dramatic results.

These shortened fibrils were found to be non-toxic to cells and they did not act as catalysts for further aggregation. In additional experiments, the scientists observed that caffeine and espresso extract could both bind to pre-formed tau fibrils.

According to Study Finds, the researchers found that a shot of espresso eradicates those harmful proteins that accumulate in the brain and cause neural death. Mariapina D’Onofrio, an associate professor in the department of biotechnology at the University of Verona, and lead researcher, says that espresso coffee mitigates the accumulation and consolidation of tau, which is a significant cause of Alzheimer’s disease.

Although much more research is needed, the team says their preliminary in vitro results could pave the way toward finding or designing other bioactive compounds against neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s.