Coffee intake and thinking skills in HIV and HCV coinfection
What it found
In 139 people coinfected with HIV and HCV, those who drank three or more cups of coffee a day scored better on some tests of thinking skills.
The study was cross-sectional, so it cannot show cause and effect.
What they found
Studies in people
Verbal fluency
People who drank three or more cups of coffee a day scored better on a verbal fluency task, which measures vocabulary size or how quickly someone can access words. This link remained after adjusting for other factors.
Processing speed
Elevated coffee intake was linked to better scores on a coding task, which measures how fast someone processes information. This is one of the thinking skills often affected in people with both HIV and HCV.
Executive function
Those who drank three or more cups a day did better on a test of cognitive flexibility, which is part of executive functioning. The result held after accounting for other health and lifestyle factors.
Visual memory
Coffee intake was linked to better scores on the direct copy part of a visual memory test, but not on the delayed reproduction part. This suggests a possible link with visuospatial abilities.
Other findings
Possible reasons
The authors suggest caffeine may act directly on the brain and that coffee's antioxidants, such as chlorogenic acid, might counter inflammation caused by HIV and HCV. These are proposed explanations, not proven in this study.
What the authors conclude
“ECI might therefore preserve neurocognitive functioning in people living with HIV and HCV.”
Also in their conclusions
- They say the strong relationship found between coffee intake and neurocognitive performance underlines the multiple benefits of coffee consumption in HIV-HCV coinfected people.
- They note that because cognitive deficits can affect remembering important information, quality of life and treatment adherence, the results may have important implications for clinical management.
- They call for the effect of coffee and other functional food on HIV-HCV-related outcomes to be included in the clinical and public health research agenda.
How it was done
People coinfected with HIV and HCV have an accelerated aging process and often experience cognitive impairment, which can affect quality of life and treatment adherence. Previous research has shown coffee's neuroprotective effects in the elderly, but no study had looked at this relationship in coinfected patients.
They used data from 139 HIV-HCV coinfected patients who took part in both the ANRS CO13 HEPAVIH cohort and the HEPAVIH-Psy survey in 10 French HIV services between 2012 and 2014. They measured coffee consumption over the previous six months and tested five areas of thinking skills, then used statistical models to adjust for factors like age, gender, education, liver disease, HIV viral load, depression and cannabis use.
What it can’t tell you
- This was a cross-sectional study, so it cannot show whether coffee causes better thinking skills or whether people with better thinking skills happen to drink more coffee.
- The study did not record what type of coffee people drank or other sources of caffeine like tea, chocolate or energy drinks, so those effects are unknown.
- The findings are from a specific group of HIV-HCV coinfected patients in France and may not apply to other groups.
Who paid
- Conflicts
- The authors declare no conflict of interest.
- Authors work at
- Université de Bordeaux, France; University of Bordeaux, France; Université Paris Descartes, France
The paper
- Title
- Coffee Intake and Neurocognitive Performance in HIV/HCV Coinfected Patients (ANRS CO13 HEPAVIH)
- Type
- Study
- Evidence
- Studies in people
- Summarised from
- Full text
- Cite
- Antwerpes S, Protopopescu C, Morlat P, et al (2020). Coffee Intake and Neurocognitive Performance in HIV/HCV Coinfected Patients (ANRS CO13 HEPAVIH). Nutrients. doi:10.3390/nu12092532Free full textPubMed 32825538DOI
Summary written 26 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error