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Bilingual coffee counseling: exercise and caffeine can change your DNA

Published: 2026-04-09 Author: World Gafei

Last Updated: 2026/04/09, Swedish researchers recently found that when men and women who are not physically active change their DNA instantly after a few minutes of exercise, when they are in good health. More surprisingly, the study suggests that caffeine in the coffee we drink in the morning may affect DNA in muscles in the same way. The study was published in the March issue of "details."

Swedish researchers recently found that when men and women who are not physically active change their DNA instantly after a few minutes of exercise, when they are in good health. More surprisingly, the study suggests that caffeine in the coffee we drink in the morning may affect DNA in muscles in the same way. The study was published in the March issue of the journal Cell Metabolism.

Juleen Zierath of the Karolinska School of Medicine in Sweden said: our muscles are really malleable, which is what we often say "supplement what you eat" / "absorb what you eat". Muscles will change what you do, which is allowed to happen, and if you don't use it properly, you will lose this function.

Exercise basically does not change the genetic code in human muscles, but the chemical properties and structure of DNA molecules in these exercise muscles change in very important ways. These changes in the precise location of DNA appear to be early events in the genetic reprogramming of muscle strength and, ultimately, early changes in muscle structural stability and metabolic benefits from exercise. The DNA change in question is epigenetic modification, which involves the acquisition or deletion of chemical markers of DNA and known sequences As, GS, TS and Cs.

The new study shows that after a period of exercise, there are fewer chemical markers of DNA in skeletal muscle than before exercise (especially methyl group). These changes of DNA in muscle participate in the process of "turning on" important genes needed for muscle to adapt to exercise.

When the researchers observed muscle contraction in laboratory utensils, they saw a similar loss / depletion of DNA methyl groups. A similar phenomenon occurs when isolated muscle tissue is exposed to caffeine.

However, Zierath explained: caffeine does not mimic the process of exercise that causes muscles to contract, and she does not recommend that anyone drink a cup of coffee at the gym. Because it is easy to misunderstand that the benefits of exercise may have something to do with drinking coffee.

"exercise can be used as a medicine, and maybe jogging can change our genome and make us healthier. For those who do not exercise, the study also suggests that caffeinated drugs may also replace exercise and have a similar effect, "Zierath said.

In a broad sense, the findings provide more evidence that our genomes are more dynamic than previously thought. Epigenetic modifications can turn genes on and off in a very flexible and convenient way, allowing the DNA in our cells to adjust accordingly to changes in the environment.

Author: keeii

Original abstract:

Acute Exercise Remodels Promoter Methylation in human Skeletal Muscle.

DNA methylation is a covalent biochemical modification controlling chromatin structure and gene expression. Exercise elicits gene expression changes that trigger structural and metabolic adaptations in skeletal muscle. We determined whether DNA methylation plays a role in exercise-induced gene expression. Whole genome methylation was decreased in skeletal muscle biopsies obtained from healthy sedentary men and women after acute exercise. Exercise induced a dose-dependent expression of PGC-1 α, PDK4, and PPAR-, together with a marked hypomethylation on each respective promoter. Similarly, promoter methylation of PGC-1 α, PDK4, and PPAR- was markedly decreased in mouse soleus muscles 45 min after ex vivo contraction. In L6 myotubes, caffeine exposure induced gene hypomethylation in parallel with an increase in the respective mRNA content. Collectively, our results provide evidence that acute gene activation is associated with a dynamic change in DNA methylation in skeletal muscle and suggest that DNA hypomethylation is an early event in contraction-induced gene activation.

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