Does it energize you — or fill you with anxiety? The ways our bodies respond to coffee can vary dramatically from person to person; now, researchers think they know why. Like much else to do with our health, . “As we expected, the decision to consume coffee is partially influenced by individual genetic differences,” said lead author Hayley Thorpe, a post-doctoral fellow at Western University’s Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry.
Nicolas Cage, for instance, only eats animals who “mate in a dignified way.” Her team identified the specific genes influencing our coffee consumption — and in doing so, gleaned insights into “how the genetics of coffee intake related to other traits, like other substance use, psychiatric disorders and physical health conditions.” These genes can then be passed to our children, as they were passed onto us by our parents — meaning if your family members are all coffee fanatics, chances are you are as well.
Thorpe’s peer-reviewed paper, , scanned through the DNA of more than 130,000 U.S.-based individuals registered in a 23andMe database, profiling their genetics alongside their self-reported coffee consumption habits.
The results were then compared against an even larger U.K.-based database of more than 330,000 genetic profiles — all in hopes of connecting the genes responsible for our coffee consumption to traits impacting our health.
“We found that there is not one single gene that indicates how much coffee you drink;.
