Does a coffee a day keep the doctor away? Investigating the impact of coffee on cardiometabolic health

咖啡是一种非常受欢迎的饮料，仅在英国每天就消耗9500万杯。从历史上看，关于喝咖啡对健康的影响一直存在争议，但最近的观察性研究结果表明，每天喝3-5杯咖啡可以预防心脏代谢疾病。然而，这些研究并不能证明因果关系，还需要随机对照试验。咖啡是一种化学成分复杂的饮料，含有许多不同的生物活性成分（如多酚、生物碱、类黑精、二萜），这些成分可能因咖啡的消费方式而异;这使得人们很难完全理解是什么在驱动这些健康影响。确定不同咖啡消费的生物标志物将有助于了解健康影响。这种复杂性因观察到对咖啡的反应存在较大的个体间差异而加剧;有些人似乎有明显的健康反应，而另一些人则没有。目前尚不清楚是什么原因导致了这种情况，尽管这可能是遗传多态性和肠道微生物群组成的结合。本专题的目的是了解咖啡消费对心脏代谢健康的影响。在本专题中，学生将：1）分析由不同方法制备的各种咖啡的生物活性化合物含量2）进行随机对照试验，以测试咖啡对心脏代谢健康的影响3）调查咖啡对心脏代谢健康的个体间差异4）识别咖啡消费的生物标志物，并预测心脏代谢疾病的风险

Coffee is an extremely popular beverage worldwide; 95 million cups per day are consumed in the UK alone. Historically, there has been debate about the health impacts of consuming coffee, however recent findings from observational studies has provided evidence that drinking 3-5 cups of coffee per day is protective against cardiometabolic diseases. These studies, however, do not prove causality; randomised controlled trials are needed. Coffee is a chemically complex beverage and contains many different bioactive component (e.g. polyphenols, alkaloids, melanoidins, diterpenes), which are likely to differ depending on how the coffee is consumed; this makes it hard to fully understand what is driving these health effects. Identifying biomarkers of different coffee consumption would contribute towards understanding the health effects. This complexity is exacerbated by the observation of large inter-individual variation in response to coffee; some individuals seem to have marked health responses, whereas others do not. It is not clear what is driving this, although it is possible that it is a combination of genetic polymorphisms and gut microbiota composition. The objective of this project is to understand the impact of coffee consumption on cardiometabolic health.In this project the student will:1) Analyse a variety of coffee prepared by different methods for bioactive compound content2) Perform a randomised controlled trial to test the impact of coffee on cardiometabolic health3) Investigate the inter-individual variation in response to coffee on cardiometabolic health4) Identify biomarkers of coffee consumption and to predict cardiometabolic disease risk