People who drink coffee can live longer. This has been the conclusion of numerous studies carried out in recent years. Now, a team of researchers from the Institute for Immunity, Transplantation and Infection at Stanford University in California (USA) believes they have discovered one of the mechanisms underlying this association.
Experts have revealed the discovery of an inflammatory process that could promote the development of cardiovascular diseases in adult life and that the consumption of caffeine (coffee, tea, energy drinks or chocolate, for example) counteracted this inflammatory process; that is, thanks to its anti-inflammatory properties, caffeine increases our lifespan.
For their study, the researchers first set out to identify inflammatory processes that could contribute to poor heart health in later life, analyzing data from the Stanford-Ellison cohort, including a group of healthy adults in their 20s and 30s. age, and a group of healthy adults over 60 years of age. By evaluating the blood samples from each participant, they identified two groups of genes that were most active in the older group . These genes were linked to the production of IL-1-beta , a type of protein that makes leukocytes and is produced in large quantities in response to infections or any type of injury or stress.
The experts examined the medical history of each of the older participants. Subsequent research revealed that older participants with high gene group activity were also significantly more likely to have arterial stiffness – a risk factor for heart attack and stroke – compared to low gene group subjects. genes.
When evaluating the participants’ caffeine intake, the researchers found that the blood of older adults with low activity in these gene groups was more likely to contain caffeine metabolites.
By incubating immune cells with caffeine metabolites and nucleic acid metabolites, they found that caffeine metabolites prevented the inflammatory effects of nucleic acid metabolites.
“That something that a lot of people drink – and really like to drink – could have a direct benefit came as a surprise to us. What we have shown is a correlation between caffeine consumption and longevity. And we have shown more rigorously, in tests of laboratory, a very plausible mechanism to explain why this could be thus “, concludes Mark Davis, leader of the work.
The study has been published in the journal Nature Medicine.
