Coffee or Beer? How these Different Drinks Affect your Genome

Caffeine or alcohol? It's a tough one to call, for certain.

While coffee may help prevent us from dozing off during the day time when we might have missed some much needed ZZZ's, a tall glass of frosty beer can help us unwind at the end of the day.

The two drinks obviously have a different effect on our body, but did you also know that scientists have recently discovered they may also have the opposite effect on our genome as well?

According to researchers from Tel Aviv University's Department of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology, they discovered that caffeine shortens and alcohol lengthens telomeres-the end points of chromosomal DNA, implicated in aging and cancer.

"For the first time we've identified a few environmental factors that alter telomere length, and we've shown how they do it," said lead study author Martin Kupiec from the university, via a press release. "What we learned may one day contribute to the prevention and treatment of human diseases."

Telomeres are composed of DNA and proteins that mark the ends of DNA strands in our chromosomes. They are essential to ensuring that DNA strands are repaired and copied correctly, and every time a cell duplicates, the chromosomes are copied into the new cell with slightly shorter telomeres.

The researchers worked to expose the yeast cells to 12 other environmental stresses. They found that most of the stressors from temperature and pH changes to various drugs and chemicals showed no effect on telomere length. However, a low concentration of caffeine showed, such as the amount found in a shot of espresso, shortened telomeres, and exposure to a 5-to-7 percent ethanol solution lengthened telomeres.

The researchers scanned 6,000 strains of yeast to get a better understanding on the changes, each with a different gene deactivated. Genetic tests were then conducted in order to determine if strains with the longest and shortest telomeres showed the two genes: Rap1 and Rif1-the main players that mediated environmental stressors and telomere length. The study notes that close to 400 genes interact to maintain telomere length, undermining the importance of the gene in this network.

"This is the first time anyone has analyzed a complex system in which all of the genes affecting it are known," said Kupiec. "It turns out that telomere length is something that's very exact, which suggests that precision is critical and should be protected from environmental effects."

More information regarding the study can be found here.