What is already known
Coffee is known for its health benefits, including lowering the risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Previous research has linked coffee intake to increases in beneficial gut bacteria, such as Prevotella and Faecalibacterium, and higher microbial diversity. However, these studies were generally small in scale.
What this research adds
Researchers analyzed the genomic sequences of gut microorganisms from nearly 23,000 people in the United States and the United Kingdom who provided detailed reports on their dietary habits. Coffee drinkers had distinct microbiotas, with coffee intake being associated with 115 bacteria species. The gut bacterium Lawsonibacter asaccharolyticus was eight time more abundant in coffee drinkers than in non-drinkers. The presence of this bacterium was also linked to coffee-related metabolites such as quinic acid and trigonelline, which have been associated with some of the health benefits of coffee.
Conclusions
The findings suggest that the effects of coffee on health may be mediated by gut microbes such as L. asaccharolyticus and their metabolites.
Coffee is one of the most widely consumed beverages around the world and is known for its health benefits, including lowering the risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Now, the largest study of its kind has found intriguing associations between coffee drinking and gut microbes.
The findings, published in Nature Microbiology, suggest that the beneficial effects of coffee may be mediated by specific gut bacteria and their metabolites. “Our study provides insights into how the gut microbiome potentially mediates the chemistry—and thus health benefits—of coffee,” the researchers say.
Previous research has linked coffee intake to increases in beneficial gut bacteria, such as Prevotella and Faecalibacterium, and higher microbial diversity. Other studies found an increase in Faecalibacterium and Alistipes microbes after coffee consumption. However, these studies were generally small in scale.
To investigate the link between the human gut microbiota and coffee consumption, Paolo Manghi at the University of Trento in Italy and his colleagues analyzed the genomic sequences of gut microorganisms from nearly 23,000 people in the United States and the United Kingdom who provided detailed reports on their dietary habits.
Shaping the gut microbiota
Coffee drinkers had distinct microbiotas, with coffee intake being associated with 115 bacteria species. In particular, the microbe Lawsonibacter asaccharolyticus was eight time more abundant in coffee drinkers than in non-drinkers, and it appeared to thrive on the compounds found in coffee.
L. asaccharolyticus was more prevalent in Western populations, where coffee consumption is high, and rarer in rural, non-Western populations, newborns and non-human primates, suggesting that coffee intake is a major factor in its presence in the human gut.
Laboratory experiments showed that coffee directly stimulates the growth of L. asaccharolyticus, whose presence was linked to coffee-related metabolites such as quinic acid and trigonelline. Both metabolites have been associated with some of the health benefits of coffee.
Coffee metabolism
Using algorithms, the researchers were able to predict coffee intake based on microbiota data. The study also categorized individuals into groups based on their coffee consumption levels, showing clear differences in gut microbiota composition between coffee drinkers and non-drinkers.
The findings suggest that some of the components of coffee — and the bacteria that metabolize them — could be central to the health benefits attributed to this drink. Since coffee intake has been linked to overall mortality risk, future research should explore whether this connection is influenced by L. asaccharolyticus, the researchers say.
“The microbial mechanisms underlying the metabolism of coffee are a step towards mapping the role of specific foods on the gut microbiome, and similar patterns of microorganism–food interactions for other dietary elements should be sought with systematic epidemiologic and metagenomic investigations.”
