Can’t start the day without a cup of Joe? Zest for coffee linked to genes

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Coffee seldom inspires moderate feelings; people love it, or hate it. And genetics may play a roll in that. Eight locations on the human genome seem to play a roll in the number of cups of coffee one drinks a day. But most interestingly, the finding might have significant implications for a persons cardiac health, propensity for addiction and memory.

In a study of nearly 100,000 people of European and African American ancestry, scientists found eight genomic locations that seemed to determine whether you drank a lot of coffee (four or more cups) or were not regular drinkers. Two of the genetic loci were already known to affect how quickly a person metabolized caffeine, making them more or less sensitive to the chemical’s stimulating effects. People with a genotype that made them fast metabolizers often drank much more coffee than slow metabolizers. And most importantly, those fast metabolizers seemed to benefit from drinking more compared to slow metabolizers:

The researchers behind that study – from the University of Toronto, Canada – found that people carrying a version of a gene responsible for slow metabolism of caffeine had a 36 percent higher risk of heart attack if they drank up to three cups of coffee a day, compared with people carrying the same gene who only drank one cup a day… However, people who had a version of the gene that was responsible for fast caffeine metabolism were found to have a lowered risk of heart attack if they drank up to three cups of coffee a day.

The six new locations identified in this new study also map to caffeine metabolism genes, confirming the previous finding. But they also appear to be located in areas that regulate other metabolic processes like blood lipid and liver enzyme levels. And, coffee consumption was associated with genes that are linked with the likelihood to smoke or become obese, potentially tying one’s love of coffee to one’s love of other pick-me-ups according to Discover:

Some of the same gene variations seen in heavy coffee drinkers are risk factors for smoking initiation and obesity. Both obesity and smoking may be fueled by addiction, which could explain why some people can’t stop at just one cup. Researchers plan to dig deeper into the genetics of coffee drinking to see how variants may be positively and negatively affecting coffee fanatics’ health.

The study also associated coffee drinking and caffeine metabolism with some beneficial metabolic characteristics like lower blood pressure and good cholesterol profiles.

The relative few number of genes identified for caffeine consumption and the straightforward effects found by the researchers could mean that coffee consumption might be the first lifestyle change people could reliably make based on their own genetics. Doctors could begin advising patients, depending on which genotype they have, whether to hit it hard or to abstain. And, the information could be especially beneficial to people who already have heart problems or who are at high risk of developing them based on other factors.

Meredith Knight is editor of the human genetics section for Genetic Literacy Project and a freelance science and health writer in Austin, Texas. Follow her @meremereknight.

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