[ad_1]
A lot of the usual coffee drinkers know that coffee is not only a great way to wake them up in the morning, it also makes them get up and poop. But if the laxative powers of coffee are well known, we do not know exactly why this happens. To get to the bottom of this mystery, some scientists have decided to do exactly what you expected scientists to give coffee to lab rats.
Their preliminary results, presented this weekend at a research conference dubbed Digestion Week, seem to confirm the suspicion that the prowess of coffee has nothing to do with caffeine. Coffee could also kill bacteria in our guts.
Researchers from the medical branch of the University of Texas at Galveston fed their rats with a tiny cup of coffee for three days in a row. Different groups have had coffee and decaffeinated coffee. Next, the researchers examined the plumbing of the rats down with a physical exam and a probe, focusing on the muscles that contract and help guide food (and possibly waste) into the intestine. Finally, they also studied how the muscle tissues of the intestine reacted directly to the coffee in the laboratory. Their results were clear: the muscles of the small and large intestines were more able to contract after coffee, which meant that things could move faster in the intestine.
"Coffee has this stimulating effect on the motility of the intestines, and that has no connection with caffeine. We could see it even with decaffeinated coffee, so it's independent of caffeine, "Gizmodo told the phone's main author Xuan-Zheng Shi, an associate professor of internal medicine at the university.
This study is not the first to suggest that coffee directly affects the bowel muscles. As early as 1990, researchers found that healthy people who declared themselves poachers had more movements of their colon muscles after drinking black coffee than those who said they never felt the need.
As in this study, the effects could be observed even when people were drinking decaffeinated coffee. And given the short time it took to see these contractions – in the space of four minutes – researchers in the 1990 study hypothesized that coffee could act indirectly on the colon via the small intestine or the stomach. It is this same study which established that everyone does not feel the need to poop after coffee; it's really only about 30%.
Shi and his team, however, did not stop to study the bowels directly. They also examined the rat shit. Compared to coffee-free poop, they discovered that there were fewer bacteria in the poop of coffee drinkers. And when they plunged the shit into a petri dish and exposed it to a solution made up of 1.5% coffee, the bacteria stopped growing as much; the same effect, but stronger, could be observed when they exposed them to 3% of coffee. As before, decaffeinated coffee produced similar results.
"It's really interesting because it means that coffee could be an antibacterial agent, and we could see it again with decaffeinated coffee," said Shi. "But we need to study more – why coffee could have this inhibitory effect on the microbiome."
At this point, it is too early to say how much coffee could specifically affect the microbial ecosystem of our gut, called the intestinal microbiome. We know that the intestinal microbiome is a delicate environment, and if coffee gets rid of or slows down the growth of bacteria that are widely considered healthy, that would be serious. On the other hand, other research suggests that coffee can have a positive effect on the health of our colon and reduce the risk of colon cancer (as in any diet research, however, it is difficult to be sure You're welcome).
Other studies have shown an association between the intestinal microbiome and a moving and healthy gut. But Shi and his team do not make it clear that the effects of coffee on the gut undeniably affect the microbiome, but simply that they have found an interesting link to explore.
Although intestinal bacteria play a role in the ability of coffee to make us poop, it is probably not the only mechanism involved. We must therefore do more research to unravel all these diverse influences. Regardless of the means used, the authors also stated that it was worth exploring whether coffee should be used as a relatively easy way to help people suffering from constipation or having a frozen gut, two complications that can occur as a result of certain surgeries. Shi and his team also plan to publish their current study in a peer-reviewed journal in the coming months.
Meanwhile, for those of you who ask for it, there is little evidence to say that taking coffee in the other direction, that is, a coffee enema, brings health benefits or "detoxifies" you significantly.
[ad_2]
Source link