Study identifies gene related to coffee urge

An international team of researchers has discovered a gene that is linked to the regulations of our coffee consumption, a study says.

Previous studies have investigated the biological mechanisms of caffeine metabolism. The new findings suggest that the gene reduces the ability of cells to breakdown caffeine, causing it to stay in the body for longer.

According to the study published Friday by the University of Edinburgh, the team analyzed genetic information from 370 people living in a small village in south Italy and 843 people from six villages in northeast Italy.

They found that people with a DNA variation in a gene called PDSS2 tended to consume fewer cups of coffee than people without the variation. The effect was equivalent to around one fewer cup of coffee per day on average, according to the study.

The researchers carried out the same study in a group of 1,731 people from the Netherlands. The result was similar but the effect of the gene on the number of cups of coffee consumed was slightly lower.

One explanation is that the different styles of coffee that are drunk in the two countries lead to the difference, says the researchers.

In Italy, people tend to drink smaller cups such as espresso while people in the Netherlands prefer larger cups that contain more caffeine overall.

The results of this study add to existing research suggesting that our drive to drink coffee may be embedded in our genes, said Dr Nicola Pirastu, Chancellor's Fellow at the University of Edinburgh's Usher Institute.

Pirastu is one of the authors of the study.

However, larger studies are needed to confirm the discovery and also to clarify the biological link between PDSS2 and coffee consumption, says Pirastu.

The study has been published in the journal Scientific Reports. Endit