Coffee is one of most consumed beverages with many health benefits. To determine the roles of coffee bioactives in obesity, we used the Caenorhabditis elegans as a model, which is a eukaryotic, multi-organ nematode. The energy homeostasis and lipid metabolism of C. elegans are well-conserved compared to the mammals, which makes this as a useful model in life science research, along with advantages of small body size, large brood size, short lifespan, easy maintenance, completely sequenced genome, and many available mutants. First, we found that treatments of green coffee bean extract and 3-O-caffeoylquinic acid (a major chlorogenic acid in green coffee bean extract) significantly reduced fat accumulation over the control in wild-type C. elegans. This was dependent to sbp-1 (an ortholog of the mammalian sterol regulatory-element binding protein involved in lipogenesis) and daf-16 (an ortholog of the mammalian Forkhead box O transcription factor, involved in the insulin/insulin-like growth factor receptor pathway). Next, we found that cafestol, a coffee diterpene and an agonist of Farnesoid X receptors (a functional homolog of the human FXR), significantly reduced fat accumulation by increasing fat oxidation and energy expenditure via DAF-12-dependent pathway. Thirdly, kahweol, a diterpene found in coffee, significantly reduced fat accumulation by reducing food intake in C. elegans. Based on this observation, we further tested the role of kahweol in aging as reduced food intake is one of well-known factors for extending lifespan. Treatment of kahweol significantly increased lifespan; 22% increase in average lifespan and 30% increase in median lifespan. Kahweol extended lifespan via daf-16-dependently, but not due to reduced food intake, in C. elegans. Taken together, these finding suggest the health benefits of coffee bioactives, particularly associated with anti-obesity and anti-aging.

Anti-obesity and anti-aging effects of coffee components

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