Regular coffee consumption helps maintain kidney health

Increased coffee consumption among regular drinkers is associated with higher estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and confers protection against the risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD) stages G3–G5 and albuminuria, as shown in a study.

Researchers included 227,666 participants from the UK Biobank for a genome-wide association study (GWAS) and 133,814 participants (12,385 with CKD) from the CKDGen Consortium for a Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis of kidney outcomes.

In the UK Biobank GWAS, 2,126 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were associated with coffee consumption (p<5 × 10⁻⁸), of which 25 were independent and available in the CKDGen GWAS.

MR analysis revealed that drinking an extra cup of coffee per day exerted a protective effect on CKD stages G3–G5 (eGFR < 60 mL/min/1.73 m²; odds ratio [OR], 0.84, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.72–0.98; p=0.03) and albuminuria (OR, 0.81, 95 percent CI, 0.67–0.97; p=0.02).

An extra coffee cup daily was also associated with higher eGFR (p=1.6 × 10⁻⁶) after removal of three SNPs responsible for significant heterogeneity (Cochran Q, p=3.5 × 10⁻¹⁵).

The present data highlight a potential protective role of coffee in maintaining kidney health among regular drinkers, according to the researchers. This has important implications in view of the increasing burden of CKD worldwide, as well as in the context of a lack of effective interventions to prevent eGFR decline in populations with and without CKD.