Study shows: Love of coffee may be in the genes

Are you a coffee lover? Maybe it’s in your DNA.

Coffee is one of the most widely consumed beverages in the world. 60 to 85 percent of Europeans and Americans drink at least one cup a day. But coffee is not for everyone, and many people cannot stand its bitter taste.

So why are some of us so crazy about this roasted bean juice?

In a new study published in the journal NeuropsychopharmacologyResearchers at the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry at Western University in Ontario and the University of California San Diego combed through large amounts of genetic data and information on the subjects’ coffee consumption to determine whether there are clear connections between DNA and coffee consumption.

“We used these data to identify regions in the genome that are associated with whether someone is more or less likely to drink coffee,” said Hayley Thorpe, the study’s lead researcher and a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology at Schulich Medicine & Dentistry, in a statement. “And then we identified the genes and biology that might underlie coffee consumption.”

The final analysis included data from the UK Biobank as well as data from the US DNA diagnostics company 23andMe. After conducting their analysis, the researchers found clear links between certain genetic variants and coffee consumption. However, many of these genetic variants were also associated with an increased risk of obesity and substance abuse.

“Despite previous phenotypic evidence that coffee consumption confers health benefits, we found predominantly genetic associations with negative outcomes in US and UK cohorts, particularly for substance use and traits associated with obesity,” the researchers wrote.

Caffeine is the most commonly consumed psychoactive substance in the world, so the link between genes associated with coffee consumption and those associated with substance abuse is hardly surprising.

“It is widely believed that the use of one substance increases the risk of using another substance and that there are genetic factors common to all substances,” the researchers said. “Coffee appears to be no exception.”

Upon closer inspection, the US data showed a link between various psychiatric disorders – such as anxiety, bipolar disorder and depression – and the genetic variants associated with increased coffee consumption. However, the UK data showed the opposite.

“This is not what we expected,” Thorpe said. “There may be many reasons why we see these discrepancies, such as a trade-off between the tea and coffee consumption of people in the US and the UK.”

Of course, these results are purely associative and rely heavily on self-reported data. However, the study offers interesting insights into the relationships between our DNA and our behavior and suggests a possible link between our DNA and our coffee consumption. At the same time, it shows how genetic analyses of different populations can capture cultural differences in the relationship between genetics and behavior.

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