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One of the problems with this literature is the way it is reported and interpreted. The studies with smoking and coffee drinking and Parkinsonism are very interesting, but they do not prove that smoking or coffee drinking prevent Parkinsonism, or that failure to drink coffee and smoke are causes of Parkinsonism. Even more important, they do not even prove that changing your habits towards smoking and coffee drinking would have any effect. All they prove is that for some unexplained reason, there are proportionately fewer PWP in the smoker and coffee drinker populations than in the non-smokers non coffee drinkers. Important to keep in mind is that there are PWP in BOTH groups. The reduction in the proportion in the smokers and coffee drinkers is small. It is an observation that is more scientifically interesting than practical, at least for the moment, until we can understand the reason. As an analogy think of age and automobile accidents. It is very clear that the young and the elderly are more likely to get into traffic accidents, proportionately speaking. The reasons are different - the young are more likely to be reckless, more likely to be drinking, less experienced; the elderly may have slower reflexes, or impaired vision and motor coordination. In these cases, age is not itself the cause of the problem, but a correlated measurement. That may be the case with smoking and coffee drinking and the risk of Parkinsonism - they may be merely correlated measurements without any causative implication. The underlying reason may have nothing to do with the disease itself. Research aimed at understanding why that correlation exists may be helpful in the long run in the treatment or prevention of the disease, or may turn out to be irrelevant and just a coincidence. Jorge Romero ----- Original Message ----- From: "Paul Lauer" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Sunday, May 28, 2000 10:00 AM Subject: Coffee, smoking > I am somewhat bemused by the posts on these subjects. I smoked 4 packs/day > for thirty years and quit about 12 years ago when spots were discovered on my > lungs. I drank 6-8 cups of caffeinated coffee until I developed PD 1 1/2 > years ago and read somewhere that caffeine was a no-no for pwp. So I switched > to decaf coffee in greatly reduced amounts and switched to green tea for > those rare occasions when I drank tea. Now I don't plan to start smoking > again even if it were proven to be neuroprotective, but I sure could revert > to my old coffee drinking style in a heartbeat. Is anyone saying with > authority caffeine or no caffeine? > > Paul H. Lauer >