It is believed that coffee and tea consumption may affect uric acid levels but only one study has been

conducted to date. ... The results showed that levels of uric acid in the blood significantly decreased
with increasing coffee intake, but not with tea intake.

Coffee is thought to reduce gout risk by lowering uric acid levels through several

mechanisms . Coffee may lower uric acid levels by increasing the rate that your body excretes uric
acid. Coffee is also thought to compete with the enzyme that breaks down purines in the body.

Coffee is one of the most widely consumed beverages in the world and may affect serum uric acid levels
and risk of gout via various mechanisms. Our objective was to evaluate the relationship between coffee,
tea, and caffeine intake and serum uric acid level in a nationally representative sample of men and
women. Using data from 14,758 participants ages >/=20 years in the Third National Health and Nutrition
Examination Survey (1988-1994), we examined the relationship between coffee, tea, and caffeine intake
and serum uric acid level using linear regression. Additionally, we examined the relationship with
hyperuricemia (serum uric acid >7.0 mg/dl among men and >5.7 mg/dl among women) using logistic
regression. Intake was assessed by a food frequency questionnaire. Serum uric acid level decreased with
increasing coffee intake. After adjusting for age and sex, serum uric acid level associated with coffee
intake of 4 to 5 and >/=6 cups daily was lower than that associated with no intake by 0.26 mg/dl (95%
confidence interval [95% CI] 0.11, 0.41) and 0.43 mg/dl (95% CI 0.23, 0.65; P for trend < 0.001),
respectively. After adjusting for other covariates, the differences remained significant (P for trend <
0.001). Similarly, there was a modest inverse association between decaffeinated coffee intake and
serum uric acid levels (multivariate P for trend 0.035). Total caffeine from coffee and other beverages
and tea intake were not associated with serum uric acid levels (multivariate P for trend 0.15). The
multivariate odds ratio for hyperuricemia in individuals with coffee intake >/=6 cups daily compared
with those with no coffee use was 0.57 (95% CI 0.35, 0.94; P for trend 0.001). These findings from a
nationally representative sample of US adults suggest that coffee consumption is associated with lower
serum uric acid level and hyperuricemia frequency, but tea consumption is not. The inverse association
with coffee appears to be via components of coffee other than caffeine.

Coffee beans contain two types of alkaloids, caffeine and trigonelline, as major components. This review
describes the distribu-

tion and metabolism of these compounds. Caffeine is synthesised from xanthosine derived from purine
nucleotides. The major

biosynthetic route is xanthosine → 7-methylxanthosine → 7-methylxanthine → theobromine →

caffeine. Degradation activ-

ity of caffeine in coffee plants is very low, but catabolism of theophylline is always present. Theophylline
is converted to xan-

thine, and then enters the conventional purine degradation pathway. A recent development in caffeine
research is the success-
ful cloning of genes of N-methyltransferases and characterization of recombinant proteins of these
genes. Possible biotechno-

logical applications are discussed briefly. Trigonelline (N-methylnicotinic acid) is synthesised from
nicotinic acid derived from

nicotinamide adenine nucleotides. Nicotinate N-methyltransferase (trigonelline synthase) activity was

detected in coffee plants,

but purification of this enzyme or cloning of the genes of this N-methyltransferase has not yet been
reported. The degradation

activity of trigonelline in coffee plants is extremely low.