Dr. Weeks’ Comment: Coffee and caffeine are highly beneficial – until you corrupt it by making it candy (adding sugar and cream). Here I lecture on the benefits of coffee but below is a current peer-reviewed scientific article showing the teleomere lengthen benefits of coffee. Remember, coffee is one the most pesticided and herbicides foods we eat, so buy organic!

Food Funct. 2021 Mar 15. doi: 10.1039/d0fo03246h. Online ahead of print.

Caffeine promotes the expression of telomerase reverse transcriptase to regulate cellular senescence and aging

Li Tao ¹, Wei Zhang ¹, Yaxin Zhang ¹, Mei Zhang ¹, Yueying Zhang ¹, Xing Niu ¹, Qing Zhao ¹, Zhenxing Liu ¹, Yuyin Li ¹, Aipo Diao ¹Affiliations expand

• PMID: 33720241
• DOI: 10.1039/d0fo03246h

Abstract

Telomere shortening is one of the main causes of cellular senescence. Caffeine is a natural stimulant most commonly found in coffee and tea. In this study, caffeine was found to promote the expression of telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) at both mRNA and protein levels, and consequently extended the telomere length and prevented cellular senescence. Knockdown of TERT eliminated the effect of caffeine on telomere elongation. Moreover, animal studies indicated that caffeine promoted the expression of TERT and extended the telomere length in the thymus and spleen of mice treated with caffeine for a long period of eight months. In addition, caffeine restored the decline of organ index and improved the histological structural change of the thymus, spleen and liver of mice due to aging. These results suggest that caffeine promotes the expression of TERT to delay cellular senescence and aging, which help to understand the mechanism for the beneficial effects of caffeine containing foods on health.