Heat up those coffee grounds to reduce Alzheimer’s risk

The grounds contain compounds that protect brain cells, especially if they’re being damaged by obesity, age and pesticides.

Specifically, caffeic acids in coffee grounds have small carbon nanoparticles known as Carbon Quantum Dots that combat free radicals and stop them producing amyloid protein fragments, typically seen in the brains of Alzheimer’s sufferers.

Once these diseases take hold, there is little that can be done, and so it’s essential to catch them at the earliest stages, say researchers from the University of Texas at El Paso.

Caffeic acids are polyphenols, antioxidants that counter free radicals, and they are unique because they can cross the blood-brain barrier.

To create Carbon Quantum Dots, the researchers took the coffee grounds and cooked them for four hours at a temperature of 200 degrees C.