Scientists have been trying to investigate the effects of coffee on our health for decades. Both the negative and the positive ones. One of their latest findings has as its protagonist a molecule present in coffee and its possible role in our aging.
Trigonelina. An international team of researchers has discovered a link between a molecule, trigonelline, present in coffee and the cellular aging process that causes sarcopenia.
Sarcopenia is an age-related disease that progressively weakens our skeletal muscles, causing it to lose mass and thus causing us to lose motor skills.
The team responsible for the study, led by researchers from the laboratories of the food multinational Nestlé and the National University of Singapore, observed that people with sarcopenia had lower levels of this molecule.
Coffee and fenugreek. Trigonelline is an alkaloid present in coffee and the plant known as fenugreek (Trigonella fenugreek). This plant is used in some places as a spice or in sprouts.
This alkaloid is a compound linked to vitamin B3, also called niacin. At high temperatures (such as those reached when roasting coffee) this molecule breaks down, giving rise to the vitamin.
Precursor of NAD+. The new study now links the molecule to another compound, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide or NAD+. Levels of this compound typically drop among people who develop sarcopenia. According to the team responsible for the work, the decreasing presence of this molecule is linked to the loss of the mitochondria’s ability to transform the energy necessary for activity in the cell.
The new study therefore points to trigonelline as a precursor of NAD+, thus mediating its relationship with the appearance of sarcopenia. Details of the study were published in the journal Nature Metabolism.
How to prevent sarcopenia. The finding does not mean that we should gorge on coffee to stay young, but it may open the door to new therapeutic mechanisms against sarcopenia. Treatments based on trigonelline and its effect on NAD+ protein levels.
As the team itself explains, adequate nutrition and physical activity are the two keys we know to keep our muscles healthy also as we move into old age.
However, research may help us better understand the different biochemical interactions between our NAD+ levels and its possible precursors (among which are some forms of vitamin B3).
In WorldOfSoftware | We know that rest improves productivity. And the coffee break at work is the best example.
Imagen | Chevanon Photography / sabinevanerp