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Caffeine acts as a stimulant of the Central Nervous System (CNS), causing increased alertness.
It is the world's most widely consumed legal psychoactive drug.
Caffeine offers a range of benefits from something as small as over an afternoon slump to reducing the risk of some serious health conditions like heart diseases.
Some common food sources of caffeine include:
Up to 400 milligrams of caffeine appears to be safe for most healthy adults.
Anything exceeding that can be harmful to the body.
The effect of caffeine on various systems of the body are as follows:
Caffeine is a stimulant and causes mental alertness once it reaches the brain.
It is a common ingredient in medications that are meant to treat drowsiness, migraines, and headaches.
Caffeine stimulates the production of stomach acid and can cause heartburn, acid reflux, or stomach upset.
Excess caffeine is stored in the liver, which exits through urine.
Hence, drinking excessive coffee or tea increases the urge for urination.
Caffeine intake increases adrenaline production.
This, in turn, increases your blood pressure for some time.
When consumed in excess quantities, caffeine can lead to irregular heartbeat and breathing.
Excess caffeine interferes with the absorption and utilization of calcium.
Reduced calcium levels in the body can lead to osteoporosis.
Muscle twitching is often a visible symptom of excess caffeine consumption.
A little caffeine during pregnancy appears to be safe in most cases.
However, it is important to note that caffeine can cross the placental barrier, and therefore, can affect the fetus.
It can increase the fetus's heart rate and, in some cases, may even lead to a miscarriage.
CYP1A2 codes for a protein that belongs to the Cytochrome P450 family.
This protein is involved in the breakdown of stimulants, drugs, nutrients, and other xenobiotics.
The CYP1A2 gene regulates the synthesis of the enzyme, and small variations in this gene are associated with the efficiency of caffeine metabolism.
Some people are genetically predisposed to produce very little of CYP1A2 enzyme while others may generate a sufficient amount.
Approximately 10% of the population is found to be rapid caffeine metabolizers, showing a high tolerance to caffeine.
This enzyme is also essential for removing toxic chemicals from our body and processing hormones and other products of metabolism.
Both increased and decreased enzyme activity have been linked to an increased risk of cancer.
It is a significant protein family in the human body, as it majorly decides how an individual responds to drugs and nutrients.
Variations in this gene broadly divide people into two groups of metabolizers:
In particular, two Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNP) are found to influence caffeine metabolism:
The haplotype CYP1A2*1F is associated with this variation.
| Genotype | Risk |
|---|---|
| AA | Two sets of CYP1A2*1F 1.5x fast metabolizers of caffeine |
| AC | One set of CYP1A2*1F normal metabolism of caffeine |
| CC | Normal metabolism of caffeine |
Individuals who have the TT genotype in this specific polymorphism of the CYP1A2 gene may be fast metabolizers of caffeine.
A study conducted on 553 individuals found that people with this genotype had a 70% reduction in the risk of a heart attack on increased consumption of caffeine.
| Genotype | Risk |
|---|---|
| TT | 1.2x fast consumption of caffeine |
| CT | 1.2x fast consumption of caffeine |
| CC | Normal consumption of caffeine |
People of certain genetic types have a genetic predisposition to drink more cups of coffee.
Identification of this tendency will help in moderating coffee consumption, taking into account the individual's caffeine metabolism status.
Genetic tests can help identify such parameters.
After all, it would be good to know if you are prone to guzzling down a little too much, especially when your caffeine sensitivity scale is tipped at the wrong end.
Caffeine tolerance in an individual is gene deep.
The enzyme CYP1A2 is responsible for metabolizing caffeine in the body and determines whether the individual is a slow or a fast caffeine metabolizer.
Fast metabolizers of caffeine may have a high caffeine tolerance.
Such people have two copies of the fast variant.
Some people have one slow and one fast copy of the variant and are said to be moderately tolerant to caffeine.
However, those individuals who have two copies of the slow variant are slow metabolizers of caffeine and are said to be poorly tolerant of it.
Resting metabolic rate describes the rate at which you burn calories at rest.
A lot of studies vouch for caffeine boosting the RMR.
Early research also suggests that caffeine supports fat-burning during exercise.
This increase in fat-burn is what majorly contributes to the increase in metabolism.
Initially, the increase in metabolism upon caffeine consumption can be evident.
However, this effect can diminish in long-term coffee drinkers due to the developed tolerance.
If you're primarily interested in coffee for the sake of fat loss, it may be wise not to consume it excessively and end up making your body more tolerant of caffeine.
Caffeine is a component in many plants, including coffee and tea.
The primary purpose of it is to act as a toxin to defend the plants against herbivores.
Caffeine in limited quantities is beneficial to our health, but in excessive amounts, harmful.
The effects of excessive caffeine intake (more than 4-5 cups of strong tea or coffee) include:
Excessive caffeine consumption does come with a set of undesirable effects.
During such times, the following remedies can help flush out caffeine from the system:
If nothing else works, just wait! The half-life of caffeine in the human body is roughly 4-6 hours, which means caffeine naturally starts to breakdown after that time.
If your body is dependent on caffeine, eliminating caffeine from your diet may cause symptoms of withdrawal.
This occurs typically 12-24 hours after stopping caffeine.
Upload your DNA raw data to Xcode Life. Our Gene Nutrition Report analyses caffeine sensitivity and metabolism, gluten sensitivity, lactose intolerance, vitamin needs, and 33 more such categories.
It is hard to believe that caffeine, a stimulant that holds popularity in battling fatigue and improving creativity, can do any harm.
Caffeine sensitivity is a term that describes the efficiency of the human body to process caffeine and to metabolize it.
We have all heard of co-workers who drink 6 cups of coffee, the recreational drink for nearly 60% of Americans, every day, and friends who guzzle a cup an hour before bedtime.
Yet there are some of us who feel jittery, anxious, or even restless after a single cup.
So, is caffeine a scourge, a tonic, or a mix of both?
For starters, coffee has a few benefits.
A large research study showed that Americans get more antioxidants from coffee than from any other dietary source.
Other studies have shown that there are several nutrients in a cup of brewed coffee, like Magnesium, Niacin, and Potassium, depending on the soil nutrients and the type of processing.
Adenosine is an organic compound that inhibits arousal and promotes sleepiness upon binding to its receptor.
Caffeine has a structure similar to adenosine and works as an adenosine receptor antagonist.
It competes with adenosine to bind to the adenosine receptor.
This process promotes wakefulness.
Though this can affect the quality of sleep among certain people, it could help in situations like driving at night or averting jet lag, where mental alertness is critical.
According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), 300 milligrams of caffeine are consumed every day by the average American. The Mayo Clinic states that drinking up to 400 milligrams per day is safe, which is approximately 4 cups.
A good cup of coffee is the most popular caffeine delivery mechanism that comes with a few health benefits like being a good source of antioxidants, warding off liver disease, and protecting against Parkinson’s.
The health risks and benefits have been understood, over the years, however, caffeine and metabolism, or the way in which our body processes the chemical, varies on several key factors.
| Beverage | Caffeine content (mg) |
|---|---|
| Coffee | 8 oz cup - 95 mg |
| Espresso | 1 oz shot - 63 mg |
| Green tea | 8 oz cup - 28 mg |
| Black tea | 8 oz cup - 26 mg |
| Energy drinks | 8 oz cup - 91 mg |
| Sodas (Cola) | 16 oz cans - 49 mg |
| Coffee liqueur | 1.5 oz shot - 14 mg |
| Dark chocolate | 1 oz square 24 mg |
Caffeine, an alkaloid, is also known as 1,3,7-trimetilksantin.
It is acidic in its pure crystalline form and is found in over 60 plant species.
The enzyme CYP1A2 is responsible for the metabolism of caffeine in the liver.
Due to potentially ineffective CYP1A2 enzyme activity, some people can experience issues like caffeine jitters after 2-3 cups of coffee per day.
Such slower metabolizers of caffeine may experience problems with blood pressure, headaches, etc.
The CYP1A2 gene regulates the synthesis of the enzyme, and small variations in this gene have an association with the efficiency of caffeine metabolism.
Some people have a genetic predisposition to produce very little of CYP1A2 enzyme while others may produce a large amount.
Approximately 10% of the population is found to be rapid caffeine metabolizers, which rates them high on caffeine sensitivity.
Approximately 10% of the population are found to be rapid caffeine metabolizers, which rates them high on caffeine sensitivity.
The polymorphism associated with caffeine metabolism is rs762551.
Studies have shown that individuals with AC or CC genotypes are slow metabolizers of caffeine.
These individuals have a high caffeine sensitivity.
They tend to have a slightly increased risk for heart attack upon consumption of more than 2 cups of coffee every day.
Individuals who have the A.A. genotype in the specific polymorphism of the CYP1A2 gene may be fast metabolizers.
These individuals have a low caffeine sensitivity.
A study conducted on 553 individuals found that people with this genotype had a 70% reduction in the risk of a heart attack on increased caffeine consumption.
The polymorphism in the CYP1A2 gene is well studied and is useful to determine the caffeine metabolism status.
This, in turn, can shine some light on the tendency to consume caffeine.
The 23andMe reports provide caffeine metabolizer status.
There are other well known 23andMe third-party tools, like Xcode Life, that can provide a better understanding.
Upload your 23andMe raw data to find out your caffeine metabolism status.
| Genotype | Phenotype |
|---|---|
| CC | [Slow Metabolizers] Likely higher risk of heart attack when more than 4 cups of coffee are consumed |
| AC | [Slow Metabolizers] Likely higher risk of heart attack when more than 4 cups of coffee are consumed |
| AA | [Fast Metabolizers] Likely lower risk of heart attack on increased consumption of coffee |
23andMe DNA raw data is the genetic information obtained after a genetic test, and it is usually provided as a text file.
This information can be downloaded after utilizing the 23andMe login provided to all 23andMe customers.
There is a wealth of information provided by ancestry DNA that can be used to identify a number of health and nutrition-based traits.
Use your ancestry DNA login to download your Ancestry DNA raw data.
You can then upload your Ancestry DNA raw data onto our site to identify the caffeine metabolizer status.
23andme vs. AncestryDNA vs. Xcode Life pertaining to caffeine metabolizer status
| 23andme | Ancestry DNA | Xcode Life |
|---|---|---|
| Provides ancestry and health reports | Provides only ancestry reports | Provides Ancestry and health reports |
| Caffeine metabolism status provided in 23andme reports | Caffeine metabolism status not provided in Ancestry DNA reports | Caffeine metabolism status provided in Xcode reports |
| Caffeine Consumption status NOT provided in 23andme reports | Caffeine Consumption status NOT provided in Ancestry DNA reports | Caffeine Consumption status provided in Xcode reports |
People of certain genetic types tend to have a genetic predisposition to drink more cups of coffee.
Identification of this tendency will help in moderating coffee consumption, taking into account the caffeine metabolism status of the individual.
Genetic tests can help identify such parameters.
After all, it would be good to know if you are prone to guzzling down a little too much, especially when your caffeine sensitivity scale is tipped at the wrong end.
