Coffee intake is associated with telomere length in severe mental disorders
Bibliographic record
Abstract
ABSTRACT Objective Telomere length is an indicator of cellular ageing, with patients with severe mental disorders tending to have shorter telomeres than the general population. Coffee consumption may reduce oxidative stress, helping prevent biological ageing processes like telomeric shortening. The British National Health Service (NHS) advises limiting caffeine intake to 400 mg/day (4 cups of coffee). However, the role of coffee consumption and telomere length in psychiatric populations remains unclear. Methods This cross-sectional study included 436 participants (schizophrenia spectrum [n = 259] and affective disorders [n = 177]) from the Norwegian TOP study. Leukocyte telomere length (TL) was measured via blood using quantitative real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction (qPCR). Patients self-reported coffee consumption, quantified as cups per day (no coffee, 1-2, 3-4, 5+). Results An inverted J-shape was found between TL and coffee intake, peaking at 3-4 cups/day before declining after 4 cups (F = 3.29, p = .02). The largest TL difference was between those drinking the highest recommended dose and non-drinkers (F = 6.13, p = .01). Coffee drinkers within the recommended dose had longer TL, comparable to five years younger biological age, adjusted for confounders. Conclusion Coffee intake within the recommended dose is linked to longer telomeres in severe mental disorders, comparable to five years younger biological age. Key Messages What is already known on this topic? Patients with severe mental disorders tend to have shorter telomere lengths, an indicator of accelerated cellular ageing. Coffee consumption has been noted to possess health benefits, which may help prevent telomere shortening. The relationship between coffee consumption and telomere length in psychiatric populations remains unclear. What this study adds? Coffee consumption up to 3-4 cups per day, but not exceeding this amount, was associated with longer telomeres in patients with severe mental disorders. Patients consuming up to 4 cups of coffee per day had telomere lengths comparable to a biological age five years younger than non-coffee drinkers. How this study might affect research, practice or policy? Our study suggests the importance of further research investigating the role of coffee consumption in biological ageing.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.003 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.004 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".