Coffee, alcohol and milk intake linked to epilepsy risk
What it found
In a genetic study of people, coffee intake was not linked to epilepsy risk, while higher alcohol intake was linked to a higher risk and milk intake to a slightly lower risk.
What they found
Studies in people
Alcohol and epilepsy
Genetically predicted alcohol intake was linked to a higher risk of epilepsy in the ILAE consortium. The combined analysis of ILAE and FinnGen also showed a higher risk.
Coffee and epilepsy
Genetically predicted coffee intake was not related to epilepsy risk in either the ILAE or FinnGen group.
Milk and epilepsy
Higher genetically predicted milk intake was linked to a slightly lower risk of epilepsy in the FinnGen consortium. This was only tested in that group.
What the authors conclude
“The present study provides evidence that a genetically predicted higher alcohol consumption was associated with an increased epilepsy risk.”
Also in their conclusions
- They say that a genetically predicted higher alcohol consumption was associated with an increased epilepsy risk.
- They advise that reducing alcohol intake should be regarded as an important prevention strategy for epilepsy.
How it was done
The authors wanted to see whether alcohol, coffee and milk intake cause epilepsy, because earlier studies had given inconsistent results and could be affected by reverse causation and confounding.
They used genetic variants linked to alcohol, coffee and milk intake as stand-ins for these habits. They looked at epilepsy data from 15,212 cases and 29,677 controls in the ILAE consortium and 4,588 cases and 144,780 controls in the FinnGen consortium.
What it can’t tell you
- This study used genetic data from people of European descent, so the results may not apply to other populations.
- The study could not look at whether the links are non-linear, because the method assumes a straight-line effect.
- The milk finding was only available in one group, so it needs more research.
Who paid
- Funding
- Funded by Medical Research Council; National Natural Science Foundation of China (from the PubMed record).
- Conflicts
- The authors declare no conflict of interest.
- Authors work at
- Medical School of Nanjing University, China; The Third Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, China; Institute of Environmental Medicine, Sweden
The paper
- Title
- Alcohol, Coffee, and Milk Intake in Relation to Epilepsy Risk
- Type
- Study
- Evidence
- Studies in people
- Summarised from
- Full text
- Cite
- Zhang Z, Wang M, Yuan S, Liu X (2022). Alcohol, Coffee, and Milk Intake in Relation to Epilepsy Risk. Nutrients. doi:10.3390/nu14061153Free full textPubMed 35334809DOI
Summary written 26 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error