According to an international team of researchers from Italy, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, people with a variation in a particular gene tend to drink fewer cups of coffee.
A new study by Nicola Pirastu et al reveals a new gene associated with habitual coffee consumption. Image credit: Shixugang.
In a new study published this week in the journal Scientific Reports, the scientists report that they’ve identified a gene called PDSS2, which regulates coffee consumption by regulating the expression of the genes linked to caffeine metabolism.
“PDSS2 reduces the ability of cells to breakdown caffeine, causing it to stay in the body for longer,” the authors explained.
“This means that a person would not need to consume as much coffee to get the same caffeine hit.”
The findings add to previous studies that have identified genes linked to coffee habits and shed new light on the biological mechanisms of caffeine metabolism.
The team, headed by Dr. Nicola Pirastu of the University of Edinburgh’s Usher Institute, looked at genetic information from two Italian populations: 370 people living in a small village in south Italy and 843 people from six villages in north-east Italy.
Each of the study participants was asked to complete a survey that included a question about how many cups of coffee they drank each day.
The scientists found that people with a variation in PDSS2 tended to consume fewer cups of coffee than people without the variation.
The effect was equivalent to around one fewer cup of coffee per day on average.
They then replicated the study in a group of 1,731 people from the Netherlands.
The result was similar but the effect of the gene on the number of cups of coffee consumed was slightly lower.
“This could be because of the different styles of coffee that are drunk in the two countries,” the researchers explained.
“In Italy, people tend to drink smaller cups such as espresso whereas in the Netherlands the preference is towards larger cups that contain more caffeine overall.”
“The results of our study add to existing research suggesting that our drive to drink coffee may be embedded in our genes,” Dr. Pirastu said.
“We need to do larger studies to confirm the discovery and also to clarify the biological link between PDSS2 and coffee consumption.”
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Nicola Pirastu et al. 2016. Non-additive genome-wide association scan reveals a new gene associated with habitual coffee consumption. Scientific Reports 6, article number: 31590; doi: 10.1038/srep31590
