Fault of genetics your addiction to caffeine

• April 26, 2024

Can not you react in the office before 2 cups of coffee? The genetics could play a key role when it comes to how much caffeine you consume. Your craving for this stimulating depends on the variation of a gene , suggest new research published in the journal PloS Genetics.

Both genes involved are called CYP1A2 Y AHR . These genes are associated with the process of metabolization of caffeine .

However, thanks to new technologies, "now it is demonstrated for the first time that gene (CYP1A2) seems to be responsible for the inherited differences in people who drink coffee, "he said. Dr. Neil Caporaso , Chief of Genetic Epidemiology at the National Cancer Institute of the United States.

The caffeine is the psychoactive substance most popular in the world, and about 90% of the population consumes it in any of its modalities. The study investigated through a complex map of inherited traits and patterns of Coffee consumption that involved more than 40 thousand Americans of European descent.

The research observed and analyzed the caffeine consumption of the group for more than 15 years, including drinks such as tea, coca, chocolate, among others.

Caporaso found that those people who had a high caffeine intake loaded the CYP1A2 or AHR gene, which caused an intake of 40 mg extra caffeine , compared to the others.

"The observations go even beyond caffeine," said Caporaso, "because one of the identified genes It was not just put there to metabolize caffeine. It does many other things, like metabolizing cancer compounds and a long list of drugs. "

Experts point out that due to the discovery, our consumption of caffeine could not be random, but due to the genetic lottery that we inherit, and how we metabolize the substance.

The clinical usefulness of the study indicates that eventually the genes involved in the caffeine metabolism , are also involved in the metabolism of other substances, so the discovery opens the doors to conduct new research that will reach a future to the personalization of medicine . 

Video Medicine: The Neuroscience of Addiction - with Marc Lewis (April 2024).