Coffee consumption and plasma biomarkers of metabolic and inflammatory pathways in US health professionals

Supported by NIH grants K99 CA207736 (to FKT), K99 CA215314 (to MS), R00 CA215314, UM1 CA186107, R01 CA49449, and UM1 CA167552, American Cancer Society grant MRSG-17-220-01–NEC (to MS), and National Natural Science Foundation of China grant 81502873 (to DH). The funders had no role in design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; preparation, review, and approval of the manuscript; or the decision to submit the manuscript for publication.
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ABSTRACT

Background

Coffee consumption has been linked to lower risk of various health outcomes. However, the biological pathways mediating the associations remain poorly understood.

Objective

The aim of this study was to assess the association between coffee consumption and concentrations of plasma biomarkers in key metabolic and inflammatory pathways underlying common chronic diseases.

Methods

We investigated the associations of total, caffeinated, and decaffeinated coffee consumption with 14 plasma biomarkers, including C-peptide, insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), IGF binding protein (IGFBP) 1, IGFBP-3, estrone, total and free estradiol, total and free testosterone, sex hormone–binding globulin (SHBG), total adiponectin, high-molecular-weight (HMW) adiponectin, leptin, C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin 6 (IL-6), and soluble tumor necrosis factor receptor 2 (sTNFR-2). Data were derived from 2 cohorts of 15,551 women (Nurses’ Health Study) and 7397 men (Health Professionals Follow-Up Study), who provided detailed dietary data before blood draw and were free of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, or cancer at the time of blood draw. Multivariable linear regression was used to calculate the percentage difference of biomarker concentrations comparing coffee drinkers with nondrinkers, after adjusting for a variety of demographic, clinical, and lifestyle factors.

Results

Compared with nondrinkers, participants who drank ≥4 cups of total coffee/d had lower concentrations of C-peptide (−8.7%), IGFBP-3 (−2.2%), estrone (−6.4%), total estradiol (−5.7%), free estradiol (−8.1%), leptin (−6.4%), CRP (−16.6%), IL-6 (−8.1%), and sTNFR-2 (−5.8%) and higher concentrations of SHBG (5.0%), total testosterone (7.3% in women and 5.3% in men), total adiponectin (9.3%), and HMW adiponectin (17.2%). The results were largely similar for caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee.

Conclusions

Our data indicate that coffee consumption is associated with favorable profiles of numerous biomarkers in key metabolic and inflammatory pathways. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT03419455.

Key Words

coffee consumption
inflammation
adipokine
sex hormone
insulin

Abbreviations used:

CRP
C-reactive protein
CVD
cardiovascular disease
FFQ
food-frequency questionnaire
HMW
high-molecular-weight
HPFS
Health Professionals Follow-Up Study
IGF
insulin-like growth factor
IGF-1
insulin-like growth factor 1
IGFBP
insulin-like growth factor binding protein
NHS
Nurses’ Health Study
SHBG
sex hormone–binding globulin
sTNFR-2
soluble TNF receptor 2
T2D
type 2 diabetes

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