COFFEE not only helps a drinker feel more alert and awake, it also has anti-ageing properties that can flip a switch in human cells, according to scientists at Queen Mary University of London in Britain.
”These findings help explain why caffeine might be beneficial for health and longevity,” said postdoctoral researcher Dr John-Patrick Alao, whose team’s research was published in the journal Microbial Cell on June 24 (2025).
Following up on prior investigations into coffee’s potential for rejuvenation, the researchers claimed to have figured out the ”mystery” of how caffeine interacts with genes and proteins inside human cells in a way that is similar to how the diabetes drug metformin operates.
Both caffeine and metformin activate what the researchers described as “a cellular fuel gauge” known as AMPK.
”When your cells are low on energy, AMPK kicks in to help them cope,” explained study senior author and Reader in Genetics, Genomics and Fundamental Cell Biology Dr Charalampos Rallis.
”Our results show that caffeine helps flip that switch,” he said.
The findings “open up exciting possibilities for future research into how we might trigger these effects more directly – with diet, lifestyle or new medicines,” Dr Alao said.
The findings are not the first to show coffee’s potential health benefits for people advancing in years.
In 2023, the American Chemical Society’s Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry published research showing how espresso has the potential to slow the onset of Alzheimer’s by targeting a protein thought to be a cause of the disease.
A team of scientists speaking at the Nutrition 2025 conference in Orlando, Florida in the United States, said that they found indications that “regular coffee intake in midlife” could be “modestly and favourably associated with healthy ageing.” – dpa
