- Researchers investigated the effect of a genetic predisposition to high caffeine levels on body fat, type 2 diabetes risk, and cardiovascular risk.
- They found that genetic predisposition to higher caffeine levels was associated with reduced body fat and risk of type 2 diabetes.
- Further research is needed to confirm the results.
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How much of these benefits come from caffeine, however, is unknown.one
Learning more about how caffeine intake affects the development of cardiometabolic conditions may help develop dietary strategies to reduce their risk.
Recently, researchers investigated the effect of genetic predisposition on higher caffeine levels in the blood.
They found that a genetic predisposition to higher blood caffeine levels was associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes.
The study was published in british medical journal.
In the study, researchers examined data from a genome-wide association meta-analysis of 9,876 individuals of predominantly European ancestry.
They used the data to examine two common genetic variants — CYP1A2 and AHR Genes – in their analysis. These genes slow down the metabolism of caffeine, which means that people with these variants need to drink less coffee to get caffeine levels in their blood higher than those who metabolize caffeine quickly.
The researchers also collected data on body fat, type 2 diabetes risk and cardiovascular disease risk.
Finally, the researchers found that genetically predicted higher levels of caffeine in the blood were associated with lower BMI, total body fat mass and type 2 diabetes risk.
On further analysis, they found that 43 percent of the protective effect of blood caffeine levels on type 2 diabetes came from weight loss.
They found no strong association between genetically predicted caffeine levels and cardiovascular disease, including ischemic heart disease, heart failure and stroke.
When asked how higher caffeine intake might increase weight loss, Dr. Dana Ellis Hunnes, an assistant professor at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, who was not involved in the study, noted that higher caffeine intake Increases thermogenesis, or heat production, in the body.
she explained medical news today That”[h]Diet production increases calorie burning, and when we burn more calories than we take in, it becomes easier for us to lose weight and fat. “
Dr. Rohini Manaktala, a cardiologist at Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston, Texas, who was not involved in the study, also told montreal Caffeine works to reduce weight by speeding up your metabolism.
“This is a dose-dependent process, which means [that] Increase [the] caffeine intake […] This leads to more fat and calorie burning, which is reflected in weight loss,” she explains. “Caffeine also suppresses an individual's appetite, which can curb overeating, which can lead to a caloric deficit, thereby helping to prevent weight gain. “
montreal also spoke with Dr. Mark Guido, an endocrinologist at Novant Health Forsyth Endocrinology Consultants in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, who was not involved in the study, to see how caffeine may reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes in addition to weight loss .
He said the scientific community had “mixed feelings” about the topic, but that caffeine could reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes by changing how the body uses glucose and insulin.
The researchers concluded that higher levels of caffeine in the blood may lead to weight loss and a lower risk of type 2 diabetes.
Dr. Guido noted that the study had significant limitations. “It looked at naturally elevated caffeine levels in people with a certain genetic predisposition, but it didn't seem to look at elevated caffeine levels in food or drink,” he said. associated with increased caffeine levels, which is a problem.”
He added that the study only looked at reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes, not how caffeine might affect people who already had the disease.
Dr. Hunnes noted that the results “are not truly causal in nature,” because unlike randomized controlled clinical trials that study “the whole person,” it only looked at genomic effects.
“It's kind of like looking outside the body — in [a] The test tube — questions and hypotheses about how it will react in a person,” she noted.
Dr. Manaktala added: “A more robust randomized controlled study would help to investigate the true clinical and health effects of caffeine. Furthermore, the study participants were of European descent. This makes extrapolating the findings to the general US population challenging sex”
Dr. Manaktala called the findings “exciting,” noting that they mean that “healthy doses” of caffeine may help prevent obesity, a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease. However, she noted:
“[W]Before you fully accept the findings of the research and adopt new eating habits, you need to proceed with caution. Most importantly, we need to remember that caffeine is not a substitute for a healthy lifestyle, including eating plenty of fruits, vegetables, lean meats, moderate carbohydrate/fat intake, and daily moderate-intensity physical activity and careful management as Chronic disease with heart disease risk factors. “
Dr. Guido noted that he would not advise his patients any differently based on the findings of the study.
“I think this is interesting and further research may need to be done, but at the moment, I don't think it will change the advice on preventing type 2 diabetes,” he said.
“I wouldn't change my caffeine intake based on this study,” he repeated. “It only looked at people who were naturally high in caffeine, not how much they got it from food or drink.”
“We also know that too much caffeine can also have significant detrimental health effects, such as increased blood pressure and poor sleep, and that caffeine can worsen sugar in patients who already have type 2 diabetes,” Dr. Guido warns.
