By IANS
Rome : Italian researchers have found that having one or two cups of coffee a day could protect you from eye tremors – a condition in which there is sustained, forced, involuntary closing of the eyelids.
The disorder known as blepharospasm may affects people aged between 50 and 70. People with blepharospasm may be unable to prevent their eyes from clamping shut so at times they are effectively blind.
The first symptoms of the disorder may include eye irritation and discomfort, sensitivity to light and increased blinking.
Researchers from the Department of Neurological and Psychiatric Sciences of the University of Bari studied 166 people who have uncontrollable twitching of the eyelid that in extreme cases stops them from being able to see.
A previous study had suggested smoking had a protective effect on the condition. In the current study there was no significant association found with smoking but those who drank coffee were found to be less likely to develop the condition, the researchers said.
The effect was proportional to the amount of coffee drunk. The age of the onset of the spasm was also found to be greater in patients who drank more coffee – 1.7 years for each additional cup per day, reported the online edition of the BBC News.
Researchers said the most obvious candidate for the protective effect could be caffeine. However, they said the low frequency of decaffeinated coffee intake in Italy prevented them from examining the effects of caffeine on blepharospasm.