Good News! Caffeine Might Help Your Cells Live Longer

Gizmodo

5 hours ago

As if we needed any other reason to drink coffee or tea, new research provides insight into how caffeine supports health and longevity.
Researchers in London studying fission yeast—a single-celled organism similar to human cells—have revealed that caffeine impacts aging via an ancient cellular energy system. Their study, published yesterday in the journal Microbial Cell, bolsters previous research suggesting that caffeine reduces the risk of age-related diseases and carries important implications for future longevity research. Plus, it gives you a good comeback next time your partner tells you you're drinking too much coffee.
While most people think of caffeine within the context of coffee or tea, it is a naturally occurring central nervous system stimulant found in coffee beans, tea leaves, cocoa beans, kola nuts, and more. Perhaps unsurprisingly, caffeine is the most widely used psychoactive stimulant in the world.
While the energy boost our cup of Joe delivers each morning is enough for most of us to justify its daily consumption, caffeine has also been associated with a number of health benefits, such as depression relief, longer lifespan, and a lower risk of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes.
The team had previously discovered that caffeine promotes lengthier cell lives by influencing TOR (Target of Rapamycin)—a biological switch that instructs cells when to grow given the availability of food and energy. More broadly, the growth regulator manages the energy and stress responses of living things. In the new study, however, the team found that caffeine actually impacts TOR indirectly by activating a system called AMPK, essentially a sort of cellular fuel gauge, as described by a Queen Mary University of London statement.
'When your cells are low on energy, AMPK kicks in to help them cope,' Charalampos Rallis, senior author of the study and a researcher at Queen Mary University of London's Research Centre of Molecular Cell Biology, said in the statement. 'And our results show that caffeine helps flip that switch.'
Rallis and his colleagues used the yeast model to demonstrate that caffeine's influence on AMPK positively affects functions related to aging and disease, such as cell growth, DNA repair, and stress response.
'These findings help explain why caffeine might be beneficial for health and longevity,' said John-Patrick Alao, lead author of the study and a biochemist at the University of East London. 'And they open up exciting possibilities for future research into how we might trigger these effects more directly—with diet, lifestyle, or new medicines.'
Coffee and tea lovers, rejoice!