Genetic factors reveal surprising roots of coffee consumption
Coffee is one of the most popular beverages in the world. Scientists decided to investigate where our love for this particular drink comes from. They reached surprising conclusions. Do we have a genetic predisposition for drinking coffee?
Coffee is one of the most popular beverages in the world. Many people can't imagine a day without one or several cups of this aromatic beverage. Scientists from the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry and the University of California, San Diego, decided to find out what determines how much coffee we drink. They reached surprising conclusions.
The research team decided to conduct genome-wide association studies, relying on data from the United States and the United Kingdom. According to Hayley Thorpe, the lead researcher in the research and a PhD scientist at Western's Schulich Medicine & Dentistry, they identified a genome region associated with the likelihood of drinking coffee.
It turns out that genes play a significant role in this. According to scientists, specific gene variants that we inherit from our parents affect how much coffee we consume.
This is how drinking coffee affects our health
During data analysis, scientists also concluded that coffee consumption is connected to negative health effects, including obesity or even the use of psychoactive substances. The study's authors emphasize that coffee consumption does not determine the occurrence of obesity or addiction to psychoactive substances. It's more about the genetic predisposition to consume coffee, which is in some way related to these traits.
Researchers pointed out yet another piece of the puzzle. They indicate that the genetics of anxiety, bipolar disorder, and depression in the dataset appear to be linked to the genetics of coffee consumption. Interestingly, this is only the case with data from North America. The analysis of data from the United Kingdom showed the opposite.
The latest research is inconclusive, and further analyses are needed to understand better the relationship between health issues and coffee consumption.
