Tea and Coffee Consumption in Relation to DNA Methylation

In a recent study published in Human Molecular Genetics, researchers from the University of Uppsala, found that tea consumption may lead to DNA methylation changes of some special genes in women bodies, while those genes are thought to have interactions between cancers and estrogen metabolism.

 

As we all know, lifestyle factors, like food choices, smoking and exposure to chemicals, can alter DNA methylation and lead to changes in gene activity. In this study, the researchers investigated whether tea and coffee consumption will lead to changes in DNA methylation. Both coffee and tea has been suggested to play an important role in modulating disease-risk in humans by suppressing tumor progression, reducing inflammation and affecting estrogen metabolism. And the mechanisms may be medicated by changes in DNA methylation.

 

To investigate whether DNA methylation in blood is associated with coffee and tea consumption, the scientists performed a genome-wide DNA methylation study for coffee and tea consumption in four European cohorts (N = 3,096). DNA methylation was measured from whole blood at 421,695 CpG sites distributed throughout the genome and analysed in men and women both separately and together in each cohort. Meta-analyses of the results and additional regional-level analyses were performed.

dna-methylation

After adjusting for multiple testing, the meta-analysis revealed that two individual CpG-sites, mapping to DNAJC16 and TTC17, were differentially methylated in relation to tea consumption in women. No individual sites were associated in men or in the sex-combined analysis for tea or coffee. The regional analysis revealed that 28 regions were differentially methylated in relation to tea consumption in women. These regions contained genes known to interact with estradiol metabolism and cancer. No significant regions were found in the sex-combined and male-only analysis for either tea or coffee consumption. (Source: https://academic.oup.com/hmg/article-abstract/doi/10.1093/hmg/ddx194/3848993/Tea-and-coffee-consumption-in-relation-to-DNA?redirectedFrom=fulltext)

 

The results show that DNA methylation only occurred in women’s body with tea consumption. What’s more interesting is that most of the DNA methylation alterations occur in those genes that play a role in cancer and estrogen metabolism. Previous studies have shown that tea consumption can reduce the body’s estrogen levels, this however, illustrated the biological response differences between the male and the female with tea consumption. The researchers pointed out that compared to men, women often can drink a lot of tea and this can also increase the chances of finding relationships between women and tea consumption. Of course, this study did not find any DNA methylation changes in coffee consumption.

 

This study examined the key role of pharmacological active ingredients in tea during cancer and estrogen metabolism. And it can also reflect that the health effects associated with tea consumption may depend on DNA methylation changes. In the future, more in-depth studies are needed to elucidate how the DNA methylation changes affect the health. Previous studies suggest that catechins in tea can induce DNA methylation changes in vitro in cancer cells, which may indicate that some of the health effects of tea may be mediated by DNA methylation.