Have you ever heard of the medical condition known as “blepharospasm”? Neither have I. For many people, usually between 50 and 70 years old, it’s a life-altering affliction characterized by an uncontrollable twitching of the eyelid. In extreme cases, their eyelids may be clamped shut, rendering them effectively blind. Researchers in Italy found that drinking one or two cups of coffee a day seemed to reduce the risk of this condition (as reported in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry). From the article, it appears that coffee drinking won’t help treat an existing condition, but rather can help prevent it from forming.
On a more humorous side, those Italians take their coffee drinking so seriously that researchers found that “the low frequency of decaffeinated coffee intake in Italy prevented us from examining the effects of caffeine on blepharospasm” and thus they’re not certain whether it’s the caffeine that provides the benefit, or some other ingredient in coffee.
You can read the full story over at the BBC News website.
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