Caffeine and You

Coffee, tea, chocolate, energy drinks, caffeine and people

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Linkedin
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • HOME
  • ABOUT
    • ABOUT THIS BLOG
    • About Kate Heyhoe
    • Archive
  • BUZZ
  • CAFFEINE BASICS
  • RECIPES
  • SHOP
  • Contact
  • May 9, 2025
You are here: Home / Caffeine Basics / The Caffeine Gene and You

The Caffeine Gene and You

January 7, 2013 By Kate Heyhoe

Share Button

Palm IMG_0343bIn the old days, fortune-tellers read tea leaves, coffee grounds or palms to predict the future. Today, genetic testing companies reveal your personal mysteries, with scientific accuracy. They tell you who your child’s other parent is, who your own parents are, whether cancer runs in the family, or if the person who looks just like you on YouTube really is your long lost sibling. Get your genetic data now!

Here’s where things get interesting: There appears to be a big kernel of truth to the idea that your genes dictate how fast you metabolize caffeine. You can actually find out if you’re genetically programmed to crave large or small amounts of caffeine. All it takes is a simple cheek swab, sent to a genetic testing firm. So let’s jump straight to the actual research – which reveals that caffeine lingers longer when certain genes are switched on or off.

Clear as Mud Becomes Crystal Clearer (almost)

Caffeine researchers hit an “aha!” moment in 2010. They discovered that two genes determine whether you metabolize caffeine slowly or quickly. Together, these two genes are responsible for inherited differences in the way people process caffeine. They’re one reason why some people get amped from a single cup of coffee, while others down three cups before noon and another two at dinner, and never once jitter.

It’s in your genes, as the saying goes. Environmental factors, like whether you’re a smoker, still play a role. But genetic markers appear to explain a lot.

The two genes are known as CYP1A2, which has long been associated with caffeine (it produces an enzyme by the same name), and AHR, a gene that regulates the activity of CYP1A2. Researchers sifted through 300,000 genetic markers, before noticing that these two genes were essentially holding hands.

Slow and Fast Metabolizers

Every person has both of these genes, but CYP1A2 comes in two versions (or alleles; in this case differentiated by a single nucleotide). It’s like having a switch that is either turned on or off. This tiny variation makes you either a slow or fast metabolizer of caffeine ¬– it regulates how efficiently your liver breaks down and flushes caffeine from your system.

Slow metabolizers tend to drink less coffee (or other form of caffeine); fast metabolizers fuel up on more caffeine to keep feeling its effects. In one report, fast metabolizers averaged 40 mg more caffeine per day than did slow metabolizers.

In case you’re wondering, these particular caffeine genes don’t just regulate caffeine. They’re actually multi-taskers, and control other compounds, including ones related to certain cancers. (While we’re on the subject, different genes play a role in alcohol and nicotine addiction, too.)

The Caffeine Gene’s Split Personality

If you’re up for more complicated data: CYP1A2 also refers to an enzyme, generated by the gene CYP1A2 (genes are usually differentiated from their enzymes by italics). CYP is an abbreviation for a superfamily of enzymes and their encoding genes, known as cytochrome P450. The numbers and letters that follow CYP indicate the gene family, subfamily, and specific gene. Are your eyes glazing over yet? This may be too much information, but if you see CYP1A2 referenced as a both a gene and an enzyme, you’ll understand why.

Heart Attack Risk: What the Caffeine Gene Shows

One study based on 4,000 coffee drinkers used the CYP1A2 gene to identify slow and fast caffeine metabolizers, and their relationship to heart health. Slow metabolizers showed an increased risk of nonfatal heart attack. Women appeared to be at a slightly higher risk than men, probably because hormonal differences also slow caffeine’s breakdown in women.

For men and women, slow metabolizers showed increasing risk of nonfatal heart attack with increasing coffee consumption. Fast metabolizers, those who drank up to 3 cups a day, actually had a lower risk, as much as 52% lower.

So here’s the takeaway:

If you are a slow metabolizer, then drinking more than a cup of coffee a day may be risky for your heart. But a single cup of coffee seems to have no effect on heart risk, regardless of the genome variants. Moderation and self-regulation appear to be key.

Next Up: Are you addicted to caffeine? Chapter 8 looks at clinical caffeine disorders, including “The Starbucks Defense”…

Caffeine Basics: Table of Contents

Filed Under: Caffeine Basics Tagged With: caffeine gene, Chapter 07, health effect, heart

RECENT POSTS

The Nutella Cookbook: Steal This Book?

The Nutella Cookbook: Steal This Book?

Recipes

Would you steal Nutella? In 2013, thieves stole $21,000 worth of Nutella from a warehouse in German  [...]

Nutella and Orange Whoopie Pies

Nutella and Orange Whoopie Pies

Recipes

The combination of Nutella and orange makes eating these little cakes complete bliss… Makes 15 Wh  [...]

Nutella Truffles

Nutella Truffles

Recipes

Bite into one of these truffles and what a surprise – a caramelised hazelnut in the centre! Makes  [...]

Mini-Nutella Croissants

Mini-Nutella Croissants

Recipes

Treat yourself at breakfast or teatime with these mini-croissants made with the famous hazelnut choc  [...]

5 Ways Coffee Fights Cancer

5 Ways Coffee Fights Cancer

Buzz, Coffee, Health Effects

Will coffee help keep you cancer-free? Possibly. Coffee reduces the risk of certain cancers, acco  [...]

Sparkling Moroccan Mint Tea

Sparkling Moroccan Mint Tea

Recipes, Tea

For Sparkling Moroccan Mint Tea, just add carbonated water (see below). I've made this with green, b  [...]

5 Ways to Up Coffee's Caffeine

5 Ways to Up Coffee's Caffeine

Buzz, Coffee

Wanna Up Your Cup? Tweaking Coffee's Caffeine The amount of caffeine in your coffee depends on   [...]

Coffee + Cocoa + Chile Rub

Coffee + Cocoa + Chile Rub

Recipes

A pot of cowboy coffee and steaks on the campfire? Hmmmm.... maybe a backyard grill and icy marg  [...]

Why Bees Buzz to Caffeine

Why Bees Buzz to Caffeine

Buzz

As it turns out, bees like caffeine. Maybe that's why they buzz... Bees, as we know, are importan  [...]

No-Bake Chocolate Cheesecake Mini's

No-Bake Chocolate Cheesecake Mini's

Recipes

When it's 100 degrees outside, I head indoors to make cheesecake – miniature no-bake cheesecakes, in  [...]

Chocolate's Next Conquest: India

Chocolate's Next Conquest: India

Buzz, Chocolate

In Western tradition, a dinner guest brings a bottle of wine as a host or hostess gift. In India,  [...]

Espresso-Flavored Char Shu with Java Marmalade

Espresso-Flavored Char Shu with Java Marmalade

Recipes

You know those glazed pieces of pork hanging in Chinatown restaurant windows? This is my coffee-spik  [...]

Iced Coffee Syrup, for Sparkling Coffee Spritzer

Iced Coffee Syrup, for Sparkling Coffee Spritzer

Recipes

Coffee Spritzers, here we come! Think coffee with cool, bubbly carbonation. These babies go down   [...]

10 Best Coffee Quotes From *Living* People

10 Best Coffee Quotes From *Living* People

Buzz, Fun

10 Best Coffee Quotes from Living People - Tired of quotes as stale as yesterday's coffee,   [...]

Brain Candy: Sugar May Boost Coffee's Effects

Brain Candy: Sugar May Boost Coffee's Effects

Buzz, Caffeine Effects

Sugar + caffeine = synergy? Combo boosts memory + attention, says one study.  Glucose and caffein  [...]

Hit-and-Run Driver Pleads "Starbucks Defense"

Hit-and-Run Driver Pleads

Buzz, Caffeine Effects

True story: Excessive caffeine, a mental disorder, and no sleep lead to tragic consequences... At  [...]

Cheating Death: Do Coffee Drinkers Live Longer?

Cheating Death: Do Coffee Drinkers Live Longer?

Buzz, Caffeine Effects, Coffee, Health Effects

Death is inevitable, but a major study shows... "Coffee drinkers have a lower risk of death." I re  [...]

Modern Rush: Ready-to-Drink Tea

Modern Rush: Ready-to-Drink Tea

Buzz, Tea

Cold, Instant, and On-the-Go: How We Like Our Tea  More Americans go inside convenience stores   [...]

SHOPPING


All Products

Categories

Tag Cloud

ABA addiction alcohol antioxidant bee beverage Beverage Lobby bone book review brain Brazil brownie cacao cacao nib caffeine caffeine amount caffeine effect caffeine effects caffeine powder calcium candy Chapter 04 Chapter 05 Chapter 06 Chapter 07 Chapter 08 children chile china chocolate chocolate recipe Coca-Cola cocoa cocoa nib cocoa powder coffee coffee recipe coke cola cookie diet diet pill dietary supplement dopamine dressing drink energy drink energy gel energy shot FAQ FDA food food label Fun genetic guarana gum habit half-life hazelnut health health effect health effects heart history iced tea infographic liquid caffeine marinade mental health mint neurotransmitter news Nutella orange osda overdose pill powder product recipe risk Rockstar safety savory sleep soda soft drink syrup tea tea syrup teen teens theobromine theophylline trend truffle withdrawal women yerba mate

CONNECT

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Linkedin
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Follow @KateHeyhoe

 
 

© 2017, Kate Heyhoe and CaffeineAnd You.com. All Rights Reserved

Meet Kate

About Kate Heyhoe

I'm an author and journalist specializing in food and cooking. Caffeine Basics is my ninth book. I've written about the U.S. wine industry, international foods, shrinking your "cookprint," and cooking with kids. Great Bar Food at Home was a James Beard Award finalist, and Cooking Green: Reducing … More

Policies and Archives

  • Archive
  • Policies

Sites We Like

  • Coffee Krave
  • FoodWine.com
  • Sprudge
  • The Tea Stylist

Copyright © 2017 Kate Heyhoe · Log in