--- title: Coffee: This Gene Explains Why People Drink More Caffeine description: A new study reveals a gene that might be responsible for how much coffee a person drinks. canonical: https://time.com/4464843/genetics-coffee-consumption-caffeine/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-25T13:00:58.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T00:10:54.168Z article:section: Health og:title: Blame Your Genes For Your Coffee Addiction og:description: A new study reveals a gene that might be responsible for how much coffee a person drinks. og:url: https://time.com/4464843/genetics-coffee-consumption-caffeine/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltad4aeda94eecda16/6988a380428a9e68f0cd4021/coffeez.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3264 og:image:height: 1836 og:image:alt: Art of producing latte og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Blame Your Genes For Your Coffee Addiction twitter:description: A new study reveals a gene that might be responsible for how much coffee a person drinks. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltad4aeda94eecda16/6988a380428a9e68f0cd4021/coffeez.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Blame Your Genes For Your Coffee Addiction > Sponsored content. 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Brief (Washington politics, three times a week), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Aug 25, 2016 1:00 PM UTC  Art of producing latte Art of producing lattegetty images by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Aug 25, 2016 1:00 PM UTC Some people can’t start the day without a piping hot cup of coffee (or two, or three). Now, [scientists have identified a gene](http://nature.com/articles/doi:10.1038/srep31590) that may explain why some people drink more coffee than others. By looking at populations of people in villages in Italy, researchers conducted a [genome-wide association study](https://www.genome.gov/20019523/genomewide-association-studies-fact-sheet/) in which they examined markers in DNA and identified a gene called _PDSS2_ that could play a role in caffeine metabolism. In the study, which was published Thursday in the journal _Scientific Reports_, the researchers asked more than 1,200 people in Italy how much coffee they drank and compared their consumption and genetic results to another population of 1,731 people in the Netherlands. They found that people with greater expression of the _PDSS2_ gene also reported drinking less coffee. The gene is thought to regulate the production of proteins that metabolize caffeine in the body, the study authors report. “The hypothesis is that people with higher levels of this gene are metabolizing caffeine slower, and that’s why they’re drinking less coffee,” says study author Nicola Pirastu of the University of Trieste in Italy. “They need to drink it less often to still have the positive effects of caffeine, like being awake and feeling less tired.” The study isn’t the first to link genetics to a propensity to drink more or less coffee. [An October 2014 study](http://www.nature.com/articles/mp2014107.epdf?referrer%5Faccess%5Ftoken=k5F2AstMUV9O6U6gHoKuKNRgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0P6jbW2dPRj1OfWw%5FuLEeT8Hb1U2eMYGK69UTy-ZvExDTG3TlnjvLicToTtmJKy10Kj0cOOkj3OHMr70Xu%5F2ThfE7HvEOV71FVwhdCXq40XwfO5axz1j22xJKnE2ykmRQHrBGntzV9bI-qb%5F6sOBbOXVVsw0IzGGHX06ZIQpIdgicab01HP-F9ZTf2VGkbSlWk%3D&tracking%5Freferrer=time.com) analyzed the genes of more than 120,000 coffee drinkers and found [six genetic markers](http://time.com/3481592/coffee-caffeine-addiction/?iid=sr-link1) that were associated with a person’s responsiveness to caffeine, as TIME reports. “Coffee, at least to some degree, is protective of some diseases and it may predispose to others—[it’s kind of controversial](http://time.com/3145435/is-coffee-bad-for-you/),” says Pirastu. “So understanding what is driving this and how we make food choices is very important.” Coffee has been linked to a variety of health benefits like [healthier arteries](http://time.com/3729639/coffee-heart-disease-cardiovascular-health-south-korea-health/?iid=sr-link8), a [lower risk of type 2 diabetes](http://time.com/4133038/coffee-protect-type-2-diabetes/?iid=sr-link10) and potentially even a [longer life](http://time.com/4116129/coffee-longer-life/?iid=sr-link2). Pirastu adds that one of the pathways in the body that metabolizes caffeine also metabolizes some medications. “Knowing the genotype of this gene may \[also\] explain why people react differently to different drugs,” he says. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4464843/genetics-coffee-consumption-caffeine/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4464843/genetics-coffee-consumption-caffeine/"},"headline":"Blame Your Genes For Your Coffee Addiction","datePublished":"2016-08-25T13:00:58.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T00:10:54.168Z","description":"Genes may explain why some people are more responsive to caffeine","url":"https://time.com/4464843/genetics-coffee-consumption-caffeine/","keywords":["Genetics","Caffeine","Coffee","Diet & Nutrition"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltad4aeda94eecda16/6988a380428a9e68f0cd4021/coffeez.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltad4aeda94eecda16/6988a380428a9e68f0cd4021/coffeez.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Art of producing latte","caption":"Art of producing latte","creditText":"getty images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/genetics/","name":"Genetics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4464843/genetics-coffee-consumption-caffeine/","name":"Blame Your Genes For Your Coffee Addiction"}}]}] ```