New findings suggest coffee may be doing more than perk you up - it may flip a longevity switch that helps you live longer.
The caffeine in your morning brew may help slow cellular ageing by activating an ancient energy system called AMPK, providing new insights into how the world's most popular neuroactive compound might deliver health benefits beyond simply keeping people alert.
New findings, published in the journal Microbial Cell, suggest the compound works by triggering a cellular fuel gauge that helps cells cope when energy levels drop.
The team at Queen Mary University made the discovery using a single-celled organism with surprising similarities to human cells to investigate how caffeine influences ageing processes.
Caffeine may be beneficial for health and longevity
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Several years ago, the same researchers discovered that caffeine helps cells live longer by acting on TOR (Target of Rapamycin), a biological switch that controls cell growth based on available food and energy.
This switch has been regulating energy and stress responses in living organisms for more than 500 million years.
However, their latest findings revealed an unexpected twist: caffeine doesn't interact with TOR directly.
Instead, it activates AMPK, which then influences how cells grow, repair their DNA, and respond to stress, all factors linked to ageing and disease.
"When your cells are low on energy, AMPK kicks in to help them cope," explained Dr Charalampos Rallis, the study's senior author. "And our results show that caffeine helps flip that switch."
Dr John-Patrick Alao, the postdoctoral research scientist leading the study, said: "These findings help explain why caffeine might be beneficial for health and longevity.
"And they open up exciting possibilities for future research into how we might trigger these effects more directly, with diet, lifestyle, or new medicines."
The discovery is particularly significant because AMPK is also targeted by metformin, a widely used diabetes medication currently being investigated for its potential to extend human lifespan alongside rapamycin.
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Caffeine has long-observed health benefits
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The research demonstrates that caffeine's influence on AMPK affects multiple cellular processes tied to ageing and disease, potentially explaining the compound's long-observed health benefits.
These findings could pave the way for developing new approaches to promote healthy ageing through dietary interventions, lifestyle modifications, or novel therapeutic compounds that more directly activate these cellular mechanisms.
While the benefits of coffee are wide-ranging, excessive consumption may lead to anxiety, insomnia, increased blood pressure and even exacerbate health conditions.
Pregnant women and individuals with certain health conditions should be particularly mindful of their intake.
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