A new study suggests drinking coffee may be associated with a lower risk of developing multiple sclerosis (MS).

"Caffeine intake has been associated with a reduced risk of Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases, and our study shows that coffee intake may also protect against MS, supporting the idea that the drug may have protective effects for the brain," said study author Ellen Mowry, MD, MCR, with Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore and a member of the American Academy of Neurology.

Researchers equally considered both US and Swedish studies that examined the rate of MS in people who consumed coffee against those who did not. According to the Swedish study, researchers found that “compared to people who drank at least six cups of coffee per day during the year before symptoms appeared, those who did not drink coffee had about a one and a half times increased risk of developing MS. Drinking large amounts of coffee five or 10 years before symptoms started was similarly protective.”

 In the US study, researchers say people who avoided coffee were one and a half times more likely to develop the disease than those who drank at least four cups a day.