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A new study from Queen Mary University of London’s Centre for Molecular Cell Biology’s Cellular Aging and Senescence lab suggests caffeine, the world’s most widely consumed neuroactive chemical, may do more than simply wake you up.
The Microbial Cell study suggests caffeine may prevent cellular aging.
Long-term health benefits of caffeine include lower risk of age-related illnesses. What it does inside our cells and how it connects to nutrition and stress-responsive gene and protein networks has been unknown until now.
According to new research on fission yeast, a single-celled organism unexpectedly comparable to human cells, caffeine affects aging by tapping into an old cellular energy system.
A few years earlier, the same researchers found that coffee extends cell life by acting on target of rapamycin or TOR. TOR controls cell growth based on food and energy availability. Over 500 million years, this switch has controlled energy and stress reactions in living things.
The researchers’ recent investigation found that caffeine doesn’t directly affect this growth switch. Instead, it activates AMPK, a genetically conserved cellular fuel gauge in yeast and humans.
When cells are deficient of energy, AMPK responds. Results show caffeine flips that switch.
AMPK is also the target of metformin, a diabetic medicine being researched for its potential to increase lifespan with rapamycin.
In the yeast model, caffeine’s effect on AMPK affected cell growth, DNA repair, and stress response, all of which are linked to aging and disease.
These data suggest caffeine may be advantageous and long-lasting. They offer fascinating opportunities for future research into how nutrition, lifestyle, or new drugs can directly cause these effects.
When you drink coffee, you may be aiding your cells as well as your focus.
Sources:
John-Patrick Alao et al, Dissecting the cell cycle regulation, DNA damage sensitivity and lifespan effects of caffeine in fission yeast, Microbial Cell (2025). DOI: 10.15698/mic2025.06.852
Researchers discover how caffeine could slow cellular aging. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-caffeine-cellular-aging.html
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