In 2018, biologists believed they had discovered clues about how coffee affects our heart health. According to them, the ideal consumption is four cups of strong coffee. However, in reality, the consumption of this hot drink can vary enormously from one person to another. However, a study conducted in the United States has established a link between the thirst for coffee and genetic factors. However, this craving also stems from the number of cups drunk by family, friends and other colleagues.
Paul Williams is a statistician at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory – Berkeley Lab (USA). He is behind a study published in the journal Behavioral Genetics on January 3, 2020. His research integrated no less than 4,788 child/parent pairs and 2,380 brother/sister pairs. All of the volunteers had to provide information on their diet, their physical activity, their medication intake and their medical monitoring.
The objective of the study? Better understand the effects of genetics and behaviors on the risk of cardiovascular disease. Thus, Paul Williams used a method called "quantile regression". This allowed him to measure the influence of genetics and the behavior of those around him on coffee consumption.
Depending on the results, between 36% and 58% of consumption volunteers is determined by genetics. However, it seems that genetics and the behavior of those around you influence each other. For example, the study made it possible to understand that each cup of coffee drunk per day in the family unit was associated with an increase in the consumption of children.
Paul Williams indicates that there is a strong genetic component linked to consumption coffee, present for more than fifty years with the democratization of this drink especially in families. However, the variations of this trait would be much more linked to the entourage than to genetics. For the researcher, environmental factors somehow prepare the conditions allowing genes to exert their effect. In short, the entourage of coffee drinkers influences their consumption. If a person's family members, but also their friends and colleagues drink a lot of coffee, the genes linked to coffee consumption will have a more pronounced effect on her.
It turns out that other previous studies estimated that certain environmental factors could influence consumption. Examples include age, gender, smoking, but also where you live and culture.
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