A group of Portuguese scientists say there may well be an added incentive to waking up in the morning and drinking a cup or two of coffee.
The team looked at 26 previously published studies on coffee consumption and found a direct link between the amount of coffee one drinks and the degree of protection against developing Parkinson's.
They concluded that drinking two to three cups each day could decrease the risk of developing the disease by as much as a 25 percent in men and about 14 percent in women.
Kieran Breen, Research Director at Parkinson's UK, says scientists there are trying to figure the link between certain elements and Parkinson's.
"We know that caffeine resembles another chemical in the brain which has various different properties, so the question we want to ask now is does caffeine act in the same way as this other chemical? And if so, is there some way we can harness this to develop new agents which will actually cure or which will actually treat Parkinson's rather than the current drugs which treat the symptoms of Parkinson's."
The chemical Breen is talking about is adenosine, a relatively new discovery in the scientist's growing armory against the disease, although little is known about it.
But there are early clinical trials on some drugs that affect adenosine and may influence the symptoms of Parkinson's.
To go further, scientists like Breen believe it's necessary to look at certain aspects of people's lifestyles over a period of time.
That way scientists can see exactly what people are exposed to, and they can determine exactly how much coffee and other drinks they're consuming and correlate it with things like caffeine and other chemicals.
One interviewee recalls his experience with coffee when he was young.
"I used to play football, and I used to scratch my knees from falling on the ground. There was no grass in Cypress unfortunately in those days. I used to go to my grandma, and she used to put coffee grounds on my wounds so they would heal."
Breen points out that the accuracy of the study is compromised by the fact that it was done in retrospect. This means people were asked about their habits in the past, and their recall abilities might not be a hundred percent accurate.
Breen says he believes the latest results represent the strongest evidence so far that caffeine may have some protective effects against the development of Parkinson's. But he advises against people increasing their intake of coffee simply to try to protect themselves from Parkinson's. He argues drinking too much coffee may even cause other health problems.
Breen says treating and defeating Parkinson's by identifying damaged nerve cells before the occurrence of any symptoms is a long way off. But his organization will keep funding related projects.
"If we can develop agents which would treat the condition rather than the symptoms, in other words influence whether or not the nerve cells die, slow it down and halt it, even reverse it, then if we can identify people who are more at risk of getting Parkinson's, that's when we can give those drugs."
