so many studies say coffee is hurting youor coffee is helping you… everyone wants something out of coffee, butall it wants to do is give! howdy hot brown water hawkers, trace herefor dnews. scientists have again, and again, and againtried to find out what coffee is doing to the human body.
does lighter roast coffee have more caffeine, a study in scientific reports lays out nicely,"coffee consumption has been linked to protective effects on various common pathologies suchas cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, alzheimer’s and parkinson’s diseases,type 2 diabetes, some types of cancer, and hearing functions, and it may predispose toothers such as sleep disturbance."
whew. scientists have been studying coffee sincethe 1960s, and a 1972 study in cell's biophysical journal tried to find out exactly what itwas doing to our cells, noting caffeine binds to broken dna, and that if it's present duringthe formation of new dna, it can cause breaks in chromosomes (which is why we've long knownpregnant humans shouldn't consume it). we've also found that when dna is broken byother processes, caffeine can play with those broken pieces, keeping them dna broke. but confusingly, a study in march 2016's molecularnutrition & food research found coffee drinking reduced dna breakage by about a third, andthat reduction continued for hours!
so, coffee (or caffeine really) can breakdna, or keep it from being broken, depending on when the coffee hits your dna. it's important to note, dna breakage is notnecessarily a bad thing; normal cell functions can break it, but so can uv light, and certainchemicals, and irradiation. more research be needed. in the decades since we started looking intocoffee and caffeine, study after study keeps coming out talking about dna… for example, a study in the european journalof nutrition found spontaneous dna strand breaks were somewhat less likely in thosewho drank dark roast coffee.
a 2012 study in cell metabolism found thedna of people who exercised had fewer methyl groups -- a specific type of chemical markerthat occurs when dna goes through a chemical change. caffeine mimics that methylation! this shows exercise and coffee affect thedna pretty dynamically! another pair of studies, one with italians(who do love their caffã©) and another in the netherlands (the dutch drink 2.6-timesmore coffee than americans), found people who drink coffee pass their habit to theiroffspring, pinpointing several genes associated with coffee drinkers!
which is interesting, because a study in scientificreports found a mutation on gene pdss2 which is associated with drinking fewer cups ofcoffee. in a twin study using both identical and fraternaltwins, the identicals had higher correlations of habits like smoking, coffee drinking andalcohol consumption; indicating to the researchers there was a genetic component. but it's not just genetics… you can change your dna with your behaviorsin life -- this is called epigenetics. a study in biochimie found mice that werechronic over-eaters, passed genetic markers to their offspring which then had higher levelsof insulin resistance… so they were more
likely to be diabetic. could this happen with coffee too? more research is needed again. in my opinion, a lot of these studies havemore to do with our love of coffee than the magical powers of this beverage we happento drink. coffee drinking is really common. according to the international coffee organization,over nine billion kilograms of coffee were consumed in 2015-16. most of the countries on our planet consumecoffee, it's one of the most consumed beverages
anywhere (tea is the tops, of course), andis one of humanity's primary sources of the drug caffeine. and yet, it's super interesting that we stilldon't know a lot about the epigenetics of coffee. and remember, it's not just about coffee. all dna is constantly affected by the foodyou eat. dna is created, copied and created throughoutyour life -- so you are literally what you eat! so next time you're having a java, think aboutyour kids.
because what's happening to them? who knows! more research is needed and science is awesome. also i need a coffee. sorry unborn kid. when you don't get your coffee are you a monster? is there a monster inside of you? you should watch the show of that same nameon animal planet go! (seriously, it's about parasites and wormsand it's amazing, also they have cheesy computer
animation). download animal planet go from the app store,or use the link in the description. are you drinking too much caffeine? do you know the medical limit? find out in this video: omg that video isso old. my hair. weird. have a favorite coffee?
tell us cause i want it.
go down in the comments, let us know. make sure you subscribe for more dnews. thanks for watching.
