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篇章阅读22：饮食健康 Women who drank three or more cups of coffee a day were 30 percent less likely to have memory decline at age 65 than whose who drank one cup or less daily. And the benefit increased with age. Women over age 80 who drank three or more cups of coffee a day were about 70 percent less likely to have memory decline than those who drank one cup or less. the researchers said. Caffeinated tea had the same effect in the women. the study found, although more was needed to get the same caffeine boost. Count roughly two cups of tea for a cup of coffee, said study leader Karen Ritchie of INSERM, the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research. But the researchers didnt find a similarly protective effect in men, although other studies have found a benefit to males. How might caffeine help ward off cognitive decline? It is a cognitive stimulant. said Ritchie. It also helps to reduce levels of the protein called beta amyloid in the brain. she said. whose accumulation is responsible for Alzheimers disease but which also occurs in normal aging. Ritchie said she wasnt sure why men in the study didnt benefit from caffeine. Our hypothesis is that either women metabolize caffeine differently than men, or there may be an interaction of the caffeine with the sex hormones.the estrogen-progesterone balance, she said. | 
