Caffeine Consumption Can Hinder Wound Healing

[General Orange]

While coffee has strong anti-oxidant properties, a new study shows it may be bad for wound healing.

"The study was published in the July 2014 International Wound Journal and looked into the way caffeine affects epithelialization, the process by which dermal cells spread over the wound surface and provide cover for new tissue. For this analysis, the scientists used a primary keratinocyte (a cell type that is predominant in the skin) as well as a model of human skin. They tested the way seven different dosages of caffeine interacted with the dermis in terms of cellular proliferation, adhesion and migration, all of which are essential parts of the wound healing stages."

"The results showed caffeine restricted cellular proliferation of keratinocytes and delayed cell migration over the wound surface, thereby impeding epithelialization and hindering the wound healing process, Additionally, these researchers found the amount of caffeine consumed was a major factor – the more caffeine, the slower the wound healed."
https://www.advancedtissue.com/can-caffeine-consumption-hinder-wound-healing/


Adenosine, an endogenous distress signal, modulates tissue damage and repair
"... Adenosine acts on four G-protein coupled receptors ...
These receptors are antagonized by xanthines including caffeine. Via these receptors it affects many cells and organs, usually having a cytoprotective function. Joel Linden1 recently grouped these protective effects into four general modes of action: increased oxygen supply/demand ratio, preconditioning, anti-inflammatory effects and stimulation of angiogenesis."

 

[Elast1c]

I wonder if this is one of those cases that Peat mentions like the prenatal stunting of newborns from mothers' coffee intake without the addition of adequate sugar

 

[schultz]

So I guess don't apply caffeine to a wound? I wonder if there is some positive aspect to this, like better healing (not just quicker), with less scarring, if you were to perform the experiment in vivo instead of ex vivo. It's sort of what @Elast1c was getting at, but on an animal or human model the outcome may be a bit different given that the body could supply constant energy if needed, whereas cells in an external environment may burn up their energy too quickly if exposed to something like caffeine.

It also made me think of cancer, which is cell proliferation in a negative way (disordered). Caffeine may help in this case to control the growth. I'm thinking of cancer here not as the "mutant invader", which is sort of the mainstream view, but as the body trying to repair.

"Looking at the events in a failing heart, we can see that the potential repair cells recruited by the stressed heart are diverted by the conditions that they encounter there, and either die or become connective tissue cells, secreting collagen, rather than becoming new muscle cells." - Ray Peat

The "conditions" Ray is talking about here are (I think this is what he's getting at) a derangement of the energy system. The cells can either die or do something very simple because they don't have the proper metabolic environment to do anything more complex.

"Substances that inhibit inflammation are likely to also inhibit excessive collagen synthesis, serotonin secretion, and the formation of estrogen." - Ray Peat

 

[LeeLemonoil]

Caffeine Protects Skin from Oxidative Stress-Induced Senescence through the Activation of Autophagy. - PubMed - NCBI

 

[Waremu]

Well, if caffeine increases the metabolic rate, as it has been well established to do, perhaps putting it directly on a wound may slow healing because a wound already has a greater energy need to heal. And if caffeine can be burdensome to a person who is low on energy, I don't see why it is out of the realm of possibilities for it be burdensome to a wound that is inflamed and needs the energy resources to heal. So perhaps the caffeine is further burdening the cells ability to heal because it is more depleted of the resources to heal, due to inflammation. Putting sucrose/honey directly onto wounds has been shown to speed up healing, so if adding energy in the form of glucose speeds up wound healing, placing more demands on a wounds energy needs to heal when there is less energy for the wound cells may cause the healing process to be hindered from that perspective. But maybe adding sucrose with caffeine may have a better effect. Throwing that out off the top of my head as a theory.