The Alleged Health-Protective Effects of Coffee

To the Editor Using UK Biobank data from more than 400  000 people, Loftfield and colleagues examined associations between coffee drinking and mortality. Uniquely among observational studies of coffee and health, study participants were assigned a genetic caffeine metabolism score based on the presence of common polymorphisms that either facilitate or impair caffeine metabolism. Consistent with a large body of observational evidence, coffee drinking was found to be inversely associated with mortality. Similar associations were observed in both slow and fast metabolizers, which implicated noncaffeine bioactive compounds (eg, polyphenols) as the s ource of coffee’s apparent health-protective effects.
Source: JAMA Internal Medicine - Category: Internal Medicine Source Type: research