Why Does Coffee Make You Poop? Answering Your Curiosity: Many people believe that coffee makes them poop, and some doctors may advise people to avoid coffee with certain intestinal conditions. Despite this, the theory that coffee makes you poop is still to be confirmed by researchers. Although some people complain that coffee is making them poop, others don’t feel the same effect. In this article, we’re exploring why coffee can make you poop. We are also looking into whether decaffeinated coffee has the same effect.
Does Coffee Make You Poop?
Some studies indicate that coffee can activate gastrointestinal tract parts, including the stomach, gallbladder, and intestine. Researchers have attempted to confirm these effects, but other studies suggest that coffee may not affect bowel movements. So the clear verdict is not there actually at this moment.
Why Coffee May Make You Poop?
Gut Stimulation
An older 1998 study found that caffeinated coffee, decaffeinated coffee, and a 1,000 kilocalorie (kcal) meal-induced more colon contractions than water alone. The researchers also concluded that caffeinated coffee stimulated 60 percent stronger colon movements than water and 23 percent stronger than decaffeinated coffee. Eating a 1,000 kcal meal has had the same effect as drinking caffeinated coffee.
However, the European Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology study was tiny, involving only 12 participants. Another study involving six participants showed that drinking coffee after a meal might help the stomach empty faster. Once emptying of the stomach, food can move to the rectum and stimulate bowel movements. A review published in the World Journal of Gastroenterology stated that, in some individuals, caffeinated coffee could increase acid production in the stomach and colon movements.
Hormones
Coffee can also induce the release of an intestinal hormone called cholecystokinin. Researchers have shown that cholecystokinin is capable of stimulating bowel motion. It remains unclear which coffee component stimulates this hormone release.
Worsening Irritable Bowel Syndrome Symptoms
Many people with IBS report specific foods causing their symptoms, and some may experience diarrhea with coffee. Researchers in a 2016 study concluded that, in some people, coffee was a trigger that might make IBS symptoms worse. However, the researchers were unable to determine the coffee properties that cause those symptoms.
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One 2015 research explored how people with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) viewed the coffee’s effects on their condition. Of those 442 participants, 73 percent drank coffee daily. Of those who don’t drink coffee, 62 percent claimed their intestinal symptoms were exacerbated by coffee. Some participants who thought coffee was making their symptoms worse still drank coffee.
Cream and Milk
After infancy, roughly 65 percent of the world’s population can not digest lactose completely. In milk and other dairy foods, lactose is a sugar. Diarrhea can cause lactose intolerance. People who add dairy products to their coffee, such as milk, may have to poop because of the lactose added to their beverage.
Acidity of Coffee
Coffee acidity may be the key as coffee has a compound called chlorogenic acid, which triggers higher stomach acid levels and higher gastric acid production. It could be that the acidity bump overall makes the stomach dump out its contents faster than usual. There is also something in the coffee that can trigger hormones that help digestion, which would accelerate bowel movements. But it’s not clear which of the hundreds of chemicals in a cup of coffee are responsible for boosting that.
Looser Stool
In addition to encouraging bowel movements, coffee can also induce looser stools, as increased peristalsis leaves less time for the colon to perform one of its primary functions – reabsorbing water from fecal matter to produce well-formed stools. However, be mindful that others can coffee accompaniments can be the culprits in this matter. Dairy products, excess sugar, and even “sugarless” sweeteners such as sorbitol (a well-known laxative substance) can cause diarrhea.
Why Does Coffee Make you Poop? Does Everyone Get Affected?
The theory that coffee makes people poop is yet to be confirmed by researchers. Some people may be more sensitive to coffee, while others may experience no coffee effects on their stomachs. Researchers carried out many of the studies on coffee’s laxative effect in small groups of people. Further studies with larger populations of samples are needed to confirm how coffee could affect bowel movements. If researchers demonstrate that coffee stimulates bowel movements, they need to determine what component is causing this laxative effect in coffee, such as caffeine.
Research Results
Not all studies have shown coffee to have a laxative effect. A small 2005 study involving 16 participants showed no difference in the force of contractions in the rectum 45 minutes after coffee or water was drunk by the individuals. Another study, which appeared in 2018, explored the factors affecting how long it takes for food to travel through the intestinal tract. Here, the researchers associated coffee with food that would take longer to move through the gut. As the number of coffee cups increased per week, so did the time food traveling through the intestine.
Can Decaffeinated Coffees Make You Poop?
The European Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology’s small 1998 study also found that decaffeinated coffee may also stimulate bowel movements. Coffee may give people a stronger urge to poop over decaffeinated coffee. However, this study shows that people can still urge to poop after consuming decaffeinated coffee when the manufacturers remove caffeine from the coffee. Since releasing the caffeine from the coffee can even cause some people to poop, there may be other compounds that act as laxatives in a cup of coffee. Again, it takes more research to determine what those compounds might be.
Conclusion
Research has yet to confirm that coffee is making humans poop. It can galvanize some people but not others. Further studies are required to determine if coffee stimulates bowel movements or not, and if so, what coffee components cause a laxative effect. But some people can indeed feel like pooping after having coffee. We tried to discuss the reasons behind this issue to meet your curiosity as much we can.
