Quote:
Originally Posted by johgn  Caffeine is so strange, one study says it's good another says it's bad... |
Here's why: Caffeine is metabolized by the polymorphic cytochrome P450 1A2 (CYP1A2) enzyme. Individuals who are homozygous for the CYP1A2*1A allele are "rapid" caffeine metabolizers, whereas carriers of the variant CYP1A2*1F are "slow" caffeine metabolizers. This genetic trait was discovered a couple years ago. Turns out that roughly half of all people have it one way, and half the other. This is the main reason for all the conflicting studies in the past regarding the effects of caffeine and coffee's goodness or badness. Some newer caffeine studies now take this into account, sadly others still don't.
The variable is not in the coffee or the caffeine - it's in the coffee drinkers genes!
As it turns out coffee has many hundreds of other potentially relevant compounds most of which have not yet been studied at all.
This kind of discovery will lead to the rise of
nutrigenomics, a promising new scientific field that will provide individualized answers to tricky nutrition related questions.
