Scientists Discover Caffeine Might Help Control Body Weight
Scientists from Sweden and England have made an interesting discovery about caffeine – the stuff that makes coffee give grown-ups energy. According to ScienceAlert, people whose bodies keep caffeine in their blood longer might have less body fat and lower chance of getting a health problem called type 2 diabetes.
What Is Caffeine and How Do Our Bodies Handle It?
Caffeine is a natural substance found in coffee, tea, and some sodas that makes people feel more awake. Our bodies have special instructions called genes that tell them how to deal with caffeine. Two important genes are called CYP1A2 and AHR. These genes help your body process caffeine.
Some people’s genes process caffeine really fast, so caffeine leaves their body quickly. Other people’s genes process caffeine slower, so caffeine stays in their blood longer. The study found that people whose genes process caffeine slower usually drink less coffee or tea because they feel the effects stronger.ects stronger.
How Scientists Studied Caffeine Using Body Instructions
In March 2023, scientists studied almost 10,000 people’s genes. They used a special method called Mendelian randomization. This is like studying how the body instructions we’re born with affect us. It’s different from just watching what happens when people drink coffee.
The scientists looked at the special instructions that control how fast our bodies process caffeine. They wanted to see if people who naturally keep more caffeine in their blood have different body weights.
What They Found About Caffeine, Body Fat, and Diabetes
The scientists discovered something surprising. People who naturally had more caffeine in their blood because of their genes tended to have lower BMI. BMI is a number that tells if someone weighs more or less than what’s usually healthy.
For every big increase in blood caffeine, people had about 4.8 points lower BMI. They also had about 9.5 kilograms (21 pounds) less body fat. That’s about as heavy as a medium-sized dog!
The scientists also found that people with more caffeine in their blood had less chance of getting type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is a health problem where the body has trouble using sugar properly. About half of caffeine’s protection against diabetes seems to come from helping people have less body fat.
How Caffeine Might Help The Body
| What Caffeine Does | How It Helps |
|---|---|
| Makes the body warmer (called thermogenesis) | When your body gets warmer, it uses more energy, like a car engine running faster |
| Helps burn fat (called fat oxidation) | Your body uses stored fat for fuel instead of keeping it |
| Might make you less hungry | Some people don’t feel like eating as much when they have caffeine |
What Scientists Want To Study Next
Benjamin Woolf, a scientist who studies how traits pass down in families, says we need more research. Here’s what scientists want to do next:
- Test if caffeine drinks without calories could help people manage their weight
- Study if caffeine drinks might lower the chance of getting type 2 diabetes
- Find out if caffeine affects different people’s bodies in different ways
- Learn if the amount of caffeine makes a big difference in how it helps
Why This Matters
This research is important because it shows that caffeine might do more than just wake people up. It might actually help with body weight and preventing health problems. But scientists want to be very sure, so they need to do more studies.
The scientists didn’t find that caffeine affected heart health problems. Also, they want everyone to remember this doesn’t mean kids should drink coffee or energy drinks! This research just helps us understand how our bodies work and how we might stay healthy.
