he French National Institute for Health and Medical Research has
found that caffeine seems to help older women (but not older men)
retain their memory. The study was published in the journal “Neurology.”
A research team led by Karen Ritchie studied 7,000 men and women
ages 65 and older in three French cities. When the study began,
participants reported their daily intake of tea, coffee, medications
and any other caffeinated drink. The participants’ mental
skills, including memory, were tested—and those tests were
repeated two years and again four years later.
Women who reported drinking three cups of coffee or tea a day showed
less of a drop in their test scores during the study, compared with
women who said they drank at most one daily cup of tea or coffee.
The biggest benefit was seen in the women’s verbal memory.
There were no caffeine benefits in men’s test scores. Perhaps,
Dr. Ritchie suggests, women are more sensitive to caffeine’s
effects. Caffeine consumption may also be a marker of other health
habits that affect memory.
It should be noted that observational studies like this don’t
prove cause and effect. That is, the researchers did not directly
test caffeine to see whether it helped women’s memory. 
The
upside of developing new habits (click)
French
study says caffeine may help women’s memory(click)
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