"Today's workers no longer live by dreams, but on coffee."
Coffee, as a necessity of contemporary life, bears the heavy responsibility of making the whole human body "run quickly in the early morning", and is increasingly favored by doctors, white-collar workers, scientific researchers, etc.: a cup in the busy morning, a spirit to open the work mode; staying up late overtime to have a cup, in situ full of blood to deal with the copywriting form...
However, the wind review of coffee has always been "mixed reputation". Among the many praises, there are many people who have put forward a crusade against coffee, such as "causing stomach ulcers", "stimulating the stomach" and other condemnations, which make many coffee friends taste bitter fragrance and can't help but shiver at the same time...
So, the question is - is long-term coffee drinking good or bad for the stomach?
Today I'm going to share with you a review published in Nutrients, where the author highlights the effects of coffee on digestion, the gut, and the organs involved in digestion. In this review, the Coffee Science Information Institute (hereinafter referred to as the Institute) believes that although coffee has a stimulating effect on certain digestive processes, it may have a protective effect on the digestive system.
(Image source: Nutrients)
When "black tea" passes through the esophagus and enters your gastrointestinal tract, coffee brings not only enjoyment to the taste buds, but also a series of improvements in digestive function. The study summarized these functions as: promoting digestion, regulating the intestinal flora, and stimulating colonic motility.
Below, it will be unfolded by the small editor one by one to "tell you the story".
Part 1. Drinking coffee not only does not hurt the stomach, but also promotes digestion!
This is because studies have found that the average person drinking coffee not only does not hurt the stomach, but also promotes the production of stomach, bile and pancreatic secretions, thereby helping digestion.
In a previous study published in J Clin Gastroenterol, experimenters once gave subjects 100ml of coffee with different caffeine content, and after drinking it, measured the subjects' stomach acid levels. Surprisingly, subjects who drank low-caffeine content coffee had 1.7 times higher gastrin levels than those who did not drink coffee, while subjects who drank high-caffeine content coffee had 2.3 times higher gastrin levels! Therefore, researchers believe that coffee stimulates the secretion of digestive hormones, gastrin, which plays an important role in breaking down food in the stomach in humans.
Combined gastrin excretion after water, coffee, and decaffeinated coffee. (Image source: J Clin Gastroenterol)
On the other hand, coffee also stimulates the secretion of cholecystokinin, a hormone that increases bile secretion. It stimulates the release of bile from the gallbladder to the intestines and stimulates intestinal peristalsis to speed up defecation; in addition, it can also stimulate the pancreas to secrete digestive enzymes, which can help with food digestion.
Part 2. Drinking coffee stimulates the distal colon movement response, laxative!
After getting up in the morning, drinking a cup of coffee, after a while I want to, some are a little more serious like diarrhea... 3 out of 10 people want to defecate after drinking coffee. Why?
In fact, as early as 1990, there was a study on the effect of coffee on distal colon function. The researchers recruited a total of 99 subjects, of which 29 percent claimed that coffee caused them to have a desire to defecate. In a trial of 14 healthy subjects, it was found that within 4 minutes of ingesting regular coffee and low-factor coffee, the rectal sigmoid motility response of 8 subjects increased and lasted for at least 30 minutes. This suggests that drinking coffee can stimulate the distal colonic motor response in some normal people.
In this review, the authors also note that coffee stimulates colonic peristalsis as much as cereals, 23 percent more than decaffeinated coffee, and 60 percent more than a glass of water. Drinking coffee may reduce chronic constipation
A study published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition titled Dietary Intake in relation to self-reported constipation among Japanese women aged 18–20 years also proves this view. The researchers counted constipation and diet in 2,069 students who participated in dietary courses in Japan in 1997 and found that coffee intake was inversely correlated with the prevalence of constipation.
Self-reported constipation with a statistical table of intake in selected food groups. (Image source: european journal of clinical nutrition)
Part 3. Coffee lovers have a healthier gut microbiome
As you may not know, another benefit of drinking coffee is that it induces changes in the composition of the gut flora, making them shift in the direction of "good people."
A team of researchers from Baylor School of Medicine has found that the gut microbiome of coffee lovers is much healthier than that of people who drink little or no coffee. This is mainly due to the improvement of the intestinal flora.
(Image source: The official website of the American Gastroenterology Annual Conference)
The study examined the composition of the gut microbiome in 97 samples of 34 subjects. Typically, most studies use stool samples alone for relevant sequencing analysis, but this study uses colonoscopy to take microbiome samples of various parts of the gut directly. At the same time, subjects reported daily caffeine intake through questionnaires.
The findings found that regardless of the age and diet quality of the subjects, after drinking more than two cups of coffee, the following associations could be shown:
1. Intestinal bacteria are more diverse and more evenly distributed in the gut.
2. The bacterial composition has better anti-inflammatory properties. For example, faecalibacterium and Roseburia, which are beneficial for anti-inflammatory, are more abundant.
3. There are relatively few bacteria associated with metabolic abnormalities and obesity, such as Erysipelatoclostridium.
Effect of coffee drinking status on the relative abundance of intestinal flora. (Image source: The official website of the American Gastroenterology Annual Conference)
This suggests that caffeine or other nutrients in coffee may affect the metabolism of gut bacteria, and the metabolic end products of bacteria may in turn affect our bodies.
Therefore, coffee does not actually bring a burden to the stomach and intestines of ordinary people, on the contrary, moderate consumption of coffee will improve digestion and achieve unexpected effects (such as: laxative). However, friends with diseases such as indigestion, gastritis or peptic ulcer should avoid drinking too much coffee to avoid causing gastrointestinal discomfort.
Finally, to quote an advertising slogan: "Although the coffee is good, don't be greedy."
bibliography:
[1] Dietary intake in relation to self-reported constipation among Japanese women aged 18-20 years. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2006 May;60(5):650-7. doi: 10.1038/sj.ejcn.1602365.
[2] Coffee stimulation of cholecystokinin release and gallbladder contraction in humans. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 1990, 52, 553–556. doi: 10.1093/ajcn/52.3.553.
[3] P1916 - CAFFEINE CONSUMPTION AND THE COLONIC MUCOSA-ASSOCIATED GUT MICROBIOTA. Program No. P1916. ACG 2019 Annual Scientific Meeting Abstracts. San Antonio, Texas: American College of Gastroenterology.
Written by | Happy one
Edit | Swagpp