Dr. Sumeet K., PhD
Caffeine is a natural ingredient that we can find in things like coffee beans, tea leaves, cacao pods, and kola nuts.
It’s also added to some food items and drinks, such as energy drinks, sodas, chocolate, and certain medicines.
People across the globe consume caffeine for the energy boost it gives, as it can improve alertness, mood, attention, memory, and physical activity. However, caffeine can also cause some unfavorable effects like anxiety, difficulty sleeping, shakiness, racing heart, and withdrawal symptoms.
The way caffeine impacts us can depend on many factors, including the amount we consume, how often we consume it, when we consume it, and our personal characteristics.
One of these personal characteristics is our genetics. This means our genes can influence how our body breaks down caffeine (also known as caffeine metabolism), how we react to it, and even how much caffeine we choose to consume.
By exploring the link between caffeine and our genes (called the caffeine gene), we can better understand why different people may experience different effects from caffeine.
In this article, we’ll talk about how caffeine works in our bodies, how our genes (like the caffeine metabolism gene) affect how we process caffeine, and how different genetic variations can influence how caffeine affects us.
Quick Overview:
Caffeine affects people differently due to genetic variations. The key genetic factor at play is the CYP1A2 gene, which influences how our body metabolizes caffeine.
Variations in this gene determine whether an individual is a fast or slow caffeine metabolizer, significantly affecting their sensitivity to caffeine.
Fast metabolizers process caffeine quickly, reducing its impact, while slow metabolizers experience longer-lasting and more intense effects.
This genetic influence explains why some people can consume caffeine without adverse effects, whereas others might experience anxiety, sleep disturbances, or jitteriness even with small amounts.
Read the full article to explore the relationship between our genes and caffeine metabolism.
How Caffeine Works in Our Bodies
Caffeine is a type of substance known as a methylxanthine. It works as a drug that wakes up our brains by blocking the action of adenosine, a neurotransmitter that helps us relax and sleep.
By blocking these adenosine receptors, caffeine boosts the activity of other neurotransmitters like dopamine, norepinephrine, serotonin, and acetylcholine.
These neurotransmitters play a role in our brain’s processes like arousal, motivation, reward, learning, memory, mood, and stress response.
We often consume caffeine in coffee, tea, energy drinks, sodas, chocolate, and some medicines.
The caffeine content in these products can vary a lot. For example, an 8-ounce cup of coffee usually contains about 95 milligrams of caffeine, while a 16-ounce energy drink may contain up to 160 milligrams.
Health experts suggest that adults can consume up to 400 milligrams of caffeine a day, which equals about four cups of coffee or two energy drinks.
How caffeine affects on you can depend on several factors:
- The dose: Consuming more caffeine will generally have a stronger effect.
- The frequency: Consuming caffeine regularly can lead to tolerance (where you need more to feel the same effect) or dependence (where you need it to feel normal).
- The timing: Consuming caffeine in the morning or afternoon can boost alertness and performance, while consuming it in the evening or night can harm sleep quality.
- The individual characteristics: Things like age, gender, weight, health status, lifestyle, caffeine genetics, and other factors can influence how your body metabolizes caffeine and how it affects you.
Caffeine can have both positive and negative effects. On the positive side, it can increase wakefulness, improve mood, enhance cognition, and boost physical performance.
On the negative side, it can cause anxiety, insomnia, tremors, palpitations, and withdrawal symptoms.
Researchers are still studying the health benefits and risks of caffeine. Some studies suggest moderate caffeine intake may help prevent chronic diseases like Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, type 2 diabetes, and some cancers.
However, other research indicates high caffeine intake may increase the risk of heart diseases, osteoporosis, digestive disorders, and reproductive problems.
The truth is likely to depend on individual factors, including caffeine genetics.
How Our Genes Affect Caffeine Metabolism
Caffeine metabolism is how your body breaks down caffeine and removes it. This process mainly happens in the liver, where certain enzymes (like cytochrome P450 or CYP) turn caffeine into other compounds: paraxanthine, theobromine, and theophylline.
These compounds are similar to caffeine but have a milder effect on the brain and other organs.
The speed at which people metabolize caffeine can vary. Some people, known as “fast caffeine metabolizers,” break down caffeine quickly, clearing it from their system faster, and experiencing less or shorter effects. Others, “slow caffeine metabolizers,” break down caffeine slowly, keeping it in their system longer, and experiencing more or longer effects.
Genetics plays a big role in caffeine metabolism. Variations in the caffeine gene CYP1A2 that encodes an enzyme largely determine how quickly you metabolize caffeine.
This gene has different variations, the most common being a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) where a cytosine (C) is replaced by an adenine (A). This creates two versions of the CYP1A2 gene: CYP1A21A (C version) and CYP1A21F (A version).
The CYP1A21A version leads to higher enzyme activity, resulting in faster caffeine metabolism. People who have two copies of this version are considered fast caffeine metabolizers.
The CYP1A21F version leads to lower enzyme activity, resulting in slower caffeine metabolism. People who have two copies of this version are considered slow caffeine metabolizers.
People with one copy of each version are considered intermediate caffeine metabolizers.
Different ethnic groups have different frequencies of these versions. For example, fast caffeine metabolizers are more common in Asians than in Caucasians or Africans.
This genetic variation in the caffeine metabolism gene doesn’t just affect how quickly we metabolize caffeine, but also how we respond to it. Fast caffeine metabolizers tend to have lower blood levels of caffeine and its byproducts after consuming a certain amount of caffeine than slow metabolizers.
Impact of Genes on Caffeine Sensitivity
How a person responds to a certain amount of caffeine, known as caffeine sensitivity, can influence their caffeine consumption habits.
This means, some people might enjoy the boost they get from caffeine and drink it often, while others might dislike the jitters it can cause and avoid or limit it.
Your caffeine genetics, specifically variations in the gene that helps create the adenosine A2a receptor (ADORA2A) in the brain, plays a big role in this caffeine sensitivity.
ADORA2A is a big target for caffeine in the brain. This gene has different variations, just like the caffeine gene, that can affect how ADORA2A works. There are two versions of the ADORA2A gene: one version with T (called ADORA2A1A) and another version with C (called ADORA2A1B).
The ADORA2A1A version leads to more ADORA2A, which results in a lower caffeine sensitivity. People with two copies of this version are considered less sensitive to caffeine.
On the other hand, the ADORA2A1B version leads to less ADORA2A, which results in a higher caffeine sensitivity. People with two copies of this version are considered more sensitive to caffeine. Those with one copy of each version are somewhere in between.
Different ethnic groups have different percentages of these versions. For example, people with low caffeine sensitivity are more common in Asian populations (about 60%) compared to Caucasian (about 40%) or African (about 20%) populations.
On the other hand, people with high caffeine sensitivity are more common in African populations (about 40%) than in Caucasian (about 20%) or Asian (about 10%) populations.
The way ADORA2A works not only affects how sensitive people are to a certain amount of caffeine, but also how they feel after drinking caffeine.
People with high caffeine sensitivity tend to feel more anxious and less happy after drinking caffeine than those with low caffeine sensitivity.
This may be because of the way ADORA2A interacts with certain brain chemicals involved in regulating our feelings. People with high caffeine sensitivity may also be at a greater risk of developing anxiety or panic attacks from drinking too much caffeine over time.
How Genetics Influence the Effects of Caffeine on Health
The different versions of the caffeine metabolism gene (CYP1A2) and the caffeine sensitivity gene (ADORA2A) may influence the health effects linked to drinking caffeine.
Some people may get more or fewer benefits from moderate caffeine intake, or more or less harm from excessive caffeine intake, depending on their coffee genes.
For example, fast caffeine metabolizers might have a lower risk of getting Parkinson’s disease than slow metabolizers.
This could be because fast metabolizers clear more of a byproduct of caffeine, called paraxanthine, that can lead to death of certain brain cells.
However, fast metabolizers may also be at a greater risk of heart attack. This could be because fast metabolizers see a larger increase in their heart rate and blood pressure after drinking caffeine than slow metabolizers.
Similarly, people with low caffeine sensitivity might have a lower risk of getting Alzheimer’s disease than those with high sensitivity. This might be because those with low sensitivity see bigger improvements in thinking abilities and memory after drinking caffeine.
However, those with low sensitivity might also be at a greater risk of osteoporosis.
These examples show that variations in the caffeine genetics (the genes CYP1A2 and ADORA2A) can influence the effects of caffeine on different health issues.
But, these effects are not set in stone and can depend on other factors, like how much, how often, when, and from where you get your caffeine, as well as lifestyle, environmental, and other genetic factors.
Therefore, we need more research to fully understand the complex relationship between caffeine and genetics and how it affects our health.
Final Words
Caffeine is a substance many people consume that has various effects on the body and the brain. These effects depend on many things, including our caffeine genes, which can affect how our bodies process caffeine and how we react to it.
Genetics can also influence how much caffeine people drink and how they prefer it. Studying the connection between caffeine and genetics can help us understand why caffeine consumption and reactions vary so much between individuals and groups.
While genetics play a role in how individuals respond to and consume caffeine, this role is complex and influenced by many other factors, such as how much and how often caffeine is consumed, lifestyle habits, and environmental factors.
References:
- https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/news-daylight-saving-time-coffee-caffeine-genes-dna
- https://www.healthline.com/health/caffeine-sensitivity
- https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00213-010-1900-1
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4242593/
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37029915/
- https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4425/10/12/1021
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7146260/
- https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-46931-0
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22012471/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6947650/
Dr. Heena Arora, a passionate geneticist and microbiologist, is a valuable asset to the Genes Wellness team. Her seminal work includes identifying a key gene for white rust resistance in mustard. Leveraging her deep expertise in genetics and microbiology, she ensures the accuracy and integrity of our content. Dr. Heena’s commitment to knowledge dissemination makes her an integral part of our team.
