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Does Coffee Cause Wrinkles?

Coffee does NOT cause wrinkles.

There is no extensive research to support a connection between drinking coffee and gaining more wrinkles. Rather, there are pocketfuls of health and diet professionals, convinced that too much coffee can lead to an increase in the presence of stress hormones such as adrenaline and noradrenaline, thus possibly leading to more wrinkles.

Some other recent research has found the opposite causal effect. Scientists have determined that coffee, when added to sunscreen, may target only an organism's UV-damaged cells, leaving other normal cells untouched. The testing was only done on mice only, but after a period of 19 weeks, the Rutgers University team found a dramatic, 70% effectiveness rate difference between the coffee-tested group of rodents and the non-caffeinated batch.

Anecdotal Evidence

A great majority of the published information about coffee's effect on wrinkles can be found in the form of dieting and weight-loss testimonials. Individuals, usually women, recount their attempts to live more healthily and in some cases specifically seek out smoother skin by holistic, rather than plastic surgery means.

Does the fact that someone who follows such a diet finds success by cutting down their coffee intake mean that coffee causes wrinkles? Hardly. Without a scientific sample of individuals subjected to the same set of dietary circumstances, it simply suggests that for this person, the reduction of coffee intake was a wise decision.

Natural Remedies

The notion that coffee may do more to reduce wrinkles rather than cause them is further confirmed by the number of home-made and health store wrinkle solutions that contain the substance. Although these types of cures are far less regulated in North America than in places like Europe, they are to a certain extent driven by the unimpeachable forces of supply and demand. If something works, it continues to sell and be manufactured, marketed. As such, the number of coffee creams and anti-aging solutions with coffee in them suggests that there are enough people for which this is the true, trickle down, percolating effect that the stimulant has on wrinkles.