But the researchers didn't find a similarly protective effect in men, although other studies havefound a benefit to males.

　　How might caffeine help ward off cognitive decline? "It is a cognitive stimulant." saidRitchie. It also helps to reduce levels of the protein called beta amyloid in the brain. she said. "whose accumulation is responsible for Alzheimer's disease but which also occurs in normalaging."

　　Ritchie said she wasn't sure why men in the study didn't benefit from caffeine. "Ourhypothesis is that either women metabolize caffeine differently than men, or there may be aninteraction of the caffeine with the sex hormones.the estrogen-progesterone balance," shesaid.

　　The French study confirms previous research, said William Scott. professor of medicine at theUniversity of Miami Miller School of Medicine. who has researched caffeine's beneficial effectsagainst Parkinson's disease, also a neurodegenerative disorder.

　　As for caffeine only protecting women, Scott noted that just 2,800 of the 7,000 studyparticipants were men. and the results might have differed if more men were included.

　　A study published in February in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition looked at 676 healthymen and found that regular coffee drinkers had a lower rate of cognitive decline over a 10-year follow-up than those who didn't drink coffee. Those who drank three cups daily had theleast signs of decline.

　　Both Scott and Ritchie agreed that more study is needed. Ritchie's research will next look at therelationship between caffeine and Alzheimer's.

　　女性每天喝三杯或更多咖啡，到65歲時記憶衰退的可能性比那些每天只喝一杯或更少咖啡的人要小30%。[1]而且這樣的益處隨年齡的增長而增加。據研究者稱，80歲以上的女性，如果每天喝三杯或更多咖啡，較之每天只喝一杯或更少咖啡的人，記憶衰退的可能性小70%。

　　[2]研究發現，添加了咖啡因的茶對女性有同樣的效果，盡管需要喝更多的茶才能得到與咖啡同樣的刺激作用。“大約是兩杯茶相當于一杯咖啡，”該項研究的負責人卡倫·里奇說。她來自法國國家健康與醫學研究院(INSERM)。

　　但是研究者沒有發現咖啡對男性具有類似的保護作用，雖然其他的一些研究已發現咖啡能給男性帶來好處。

　　咖啡因何以能有助于抵抗記憶衰退呢?里奇說：“它是一種刺激記憶的物質。”咖啡因也有助于降低大腦中叫做β淀粉酶的蛋白質的水平，她說：“[3]β淀粉酶的積聚會導致老年癡呆癥，但是正常的老化過程中也會出現這種病癥。”

　　里奇說，她還不能確定為什么受試的男性未能從咖啡因中受益。“我們猜想，要么是女性代謝咖啡因的方式與男性不同，要么是咖啡因與性激素發生相互作用，即雌激素——孕酮的平衡。”

　　[4]邁阿密大學米勒醫學院的教授威廉·斯科特說，法國人的研究證實了以前的研究結果。斯科特教授研究過咖啡因對帕金森綜合征的療效。帕金森綜合征也是一種神經退化疾病。

　　至于為什么咖啡因只對女性起保護作用，斯科特教授指出，7000位受試者中只有2800位男性，如果有更多的男性參與試驗，結果可能會不一樣。

　　《歐洲臨床營養學雜志》于2月發表了一項研究，調查了676位健康男性，經過十年的追蹤調查顯示，常喝咖啡的人比不常喝咖啡的人記憶衰退的速度要慢。那些每天喝三杯咖啡的人記憶衰退的跡象最不明顯。

　　斯科特和里奇都認為還需進一步研究。里奇接下來會研究咖啡因與老年癡呆癥之間的關系。

　　1. As it is indicated in the l st paragraph, howdoes coffee influence women’s memory?

　　A) The older the woman was. the more remarkableher memory was.

　　B) The more coffee the woman drank, the moreslowly her memory declined.

　　C) The older the woman was, the more slowly her memory declined.

　　D) The more coffee the woman drank. the more remarkable her memory was.

　　2. What is true about caffeinated tea?

　　A) It affected women’s memory in the same manner as coffee.

　　B) It influenced women’s memory as effectively as coffee.

　　C) It boosted women’s memory in the same rate as coffee.

　　D) It contained che same amount of caffeine as coffee.

　　3. According to Ritchie. Alzheimer's disease is resulted from________________.

　　A) the lack of caffeine in the brain

　　B) the accumulation of beta amyloid

　　C)high level of proteins in the brain

　　D) abnormal metabolism in normal aging

　　4. William Scott would most probably agree that caffeine helped_______________.

　　A) reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease

　　B) retard the process of cognitive decline

　　C) balance the production of female hormones

　　D) protect both men and women from diseases

　　5. What was the author's attitude towards the research of caffeine's beneficial effecton men7

　　A) Doubtful.

　　B) Convinced.

　　C) Matter-of-fact.

　　D) Cautious.