Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Jul 26;22(1):36.
doi: 10.1186/s12937-023-00866-5.

Relationship between caffeine intake and thyroid function: results from NHANES 2007-2012

Jiaping Zheng  1 , Xinyan Zhu  2 , Guiqing Xu  1 , Xingchen Wang  1 , Mengyang Cao  1 , Shusen Zhu  3 , Rui Huang  4 , Yu Zhou  5
Affiliations

Relationship between caffeine intake and thyroid function: results from NHANES 2007-2012

Jiaping Zheng et al. Nutr J. .

Abstract

Background: Moderate caffeine intake decreases the risk of metabolic disorders and all-cause mortality, and the mechanism may be related to its ergogenic actions. Thyroid hormones are vital in metabolic homeostasis; however, their association with caffeine intake has rarely been explored.

Objective: To investigate the association between caffeine intake and thyroid function.

Methods: We collected data on demographic background, medical conditions, dietary intake, and thyroid function from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2007-2012. Subgroups were classified using two-step cluster analysis, with sex, age, body mass index (BMI), hyperglycemia, hypertension, and cardio-cerebral vascular disease (CVD) being used for clustering. Restrictive cubic spline analysis was employed to investigate potential nonlinear correlations, and multivariable linear regression was used to evaluate the association between caffeine consumption and thyroid function.

Results: A total of 2,582 participants were included, and three subgroups with different metabolic features were clustered. In the most metabolically unhealthy group, with the oldest age, highest BMI, and more cases of hypertension, hyperglycemia, and CVD, there was a nonlinear relationship between caffeine intake and serum thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) level. After adjusting for age, sex, race, drinking, smoking, medical conditions, and micronutrient and macronutrient intake, caffeine intake of less than 9.97 mg/d was positively associated with serum TSH (p = 0.035, standardized β = 0.155); however, moderate caffeine consumption (9.97-264.97 mg/d) indicated a negative association (p = 0.001, standardized β = - 0.152).

Conclusions: Caffeine consumption had a nonlinear relationship with serum TSH in people with metabolic disorders, and moderate caffeine intake (9.97 ~ 264.97 mg/d) was positively associated with serum TSH.

Keywords: Caffeine; Metabolism; NHANES; Thyroid.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria of the Study
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Association between Serum TSH and Caffeine in the Overall Population. (A): Nonlinear Relationship Evaluation using the RCS Model. (B): Relationship between Serum TSH and Caffeine Intake through Multivariable Linear Regression. Adjustments were made for various factors, including subgroups, race, cancer, comorbidities, urinary iodine, and intake of micronutrients (selenium, vitamin D, calcium, zinc, iron, magnesium) and macronutrients (protein, carbohydrate, and fat). Caffeine, TSH, urinary iodine, and micronutrient intake were log-transformed. A total of 24 subjects were excluded from regression due to missing data in cancer (n = 3) and urinary iodine (n = 21)
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Association between Serum TSH and Caffeine in Group 1. (A): Nonlinear Relationship Evaluation using the RCS Model. (B-D): Relationship between Serum TSH and Caffeine Intake using Piecewise Linear Regression. Adjustments were made for gender, race, age, BMI, drinking and smoking habits, hyperglycemia, hypertension, cardiovascular disease (CVD), cancer, comorbidities, urinary iodine, and intake of micronutrients (selenium, vitamin D, calcium, zinc, iron, magnesium) and macronutrients (protein, carbohydrate, and fat). Caffeine, TSH, urinary iodine, and micronutrient intake were log-transformed. A total of 12 subjects were excluded from regression due to missing data in cancer (n = 2) and urinary iodine (n = 10)
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Association between Serum TSH and Caffeine in Group 2 and Group 3. (A-B): Nonlinear Relationship Evaluation using the RCS Model. (C-D): Relationship between Serum TSH and Caffeine Intake using Multivariable Linear Regression in Group 2 and Group 3. Adjustments were made for race, age, BMI, drinking habits, cancer, comorbidities, urinary iodine, and intake of micronutrients (selenium, vitamin D, calcium, zinc, iron, magnesium) and macronutrients (protein, carbohydrate, and fat). Caffeine, TSH, urinary iodine, and micronutrient intake were log-transformed. A total of 12 subjects were excluded from regression in Group 2 due to missing data on urinary iodine, and 6 subjects were excluded from regression in Group 3 due to missing data in cancer (n = 1) and urinary iodine (n = 5)
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Relationship between Serum FT3 and Serum FT4 with Caffeine Intake in Group 1. (A-B): Nonlinear Relationship Evaluation using the RCS Model. (C-D): Results of Multivariable Linear Regression Analysis. Adjustments were made for gender, race, age, BMI, drinking and smoking habits, hyperglycemia, hypertension, cardiovascular disease (CVD), cancer, comorbidities, urinary iodine, and intake of micronutrients (selenium, vitamin D, calcium, zinc, iron, magnesium) and macronutrients (protein, carbohydrate, and fat). Caffeine, FT3, FT4, urinary iodine, and micronutrient intake were log-transformed
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Poole R, Kennedy OJ, Roderick P, Fallowfield JA, Hayes PC, Parkes J. Coffee consumption and health: umbrella review of meta-analyses of multiple health outcomes. BMJ. 2017;359:j5024. doi: 10.1136/bmj.j5024. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Grosso G, Micek A, Godos J, Sciacca S, Pajak A, Martínez-González MA, et al. Coffee consumption and risk of all-cause, cardiovascular, and cancer mortality in smokers and non-smokers: a dose-response meta-analysis. Eur J Epidemiol. 2016;31(12):1191–205. doi: 10.1007/s10654-016-0202-2. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Loftfield E, Cornelis MC, Caporaso N, Yu K, Sinha R, Freedman N. Association of Coffee drinking with mortality by genetic variation in Caffeine Metabolism: findings from the UK Biobank. JAMA Intern Med. 2018;178(8):1086–97. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2018.2425. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Barcelos RP, Lima FD, Carvalho NR, Bresciani G, Royes LF. Caffeine effects on systemic metabolism, oxidative-inflammatory pathways, and exercise performance. Nutr Res. 2020;80:1–17. doi: 10.1016/j.nutres.2020.05.005. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Sinha RA, Farah BL, Singh BK, Siddique MM, Li Y, Wu Y, et al. Caffeine stimulates hepatic lipid metabolism by the autophagy-lysosomal pathway in mice. Hepatology. 2014;59(4):1366–80. doi: 10.1002/hep.26667. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types