Coffee helps prevent eyelid spasm

Coffee drinking protects against an eyelid spasm that can lead to blindness, according to findings of a multi-centre case study published online ahead of print in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry.

Researchers claim that people who drink coffee are less likely to develop primary late-onset blepharospasm, a dystonia in which the eyelid muscles contract uncontrollably.

In extreme cases sufferers are rendered functionally blind despite normal vision because they are unable to prevent their eyes from clamping shut.

The Italian study involved 166 patients with primary late-onset blepharospasm, 228 patients with hemifacial spasm (a similar muscle spasm that usually begins in the eyelid muscles but then spreads to involve other muscles of the face) and 187 people who were relatives of patients. The second two groups acted as controls.