What a Daily Cup of Coffee Does to Your Digestion
It’s true that many doctors today, including Manhattan GI doctors, discourage their patients from drinking excessive amounts of coffee. Is it because of the caffeine? Is decaffeinated coffee healthier? Can that daily cup of coffee (or two or three) affect your digestion?
The Proven Effects of Coffee
Coffee, whether it’s caffeinated or decaffeinated, does impact your body. Some of the effects are subtle; others are not so subtle:
- Because of coffee’s acidity, it can adversely affect the lining of your stomach and intestines. If you drink a lot of coffee over an extended period, it may worsen some existing conditions that you may already have. It can exacerbate the symptoms often associated with gastritis and reflux.
- Coffee can also stimulate the movement of your intestines, leading to bowel movements.
Coffee’s Anecdotal Impact
Coffee has been described to be known to cause other digestive symptoms.
- As an acidic beverage, coffee can worsen the symptoms of heartburn, worsening symptoms of indigestion.
- Some anecdotal evidence has shown that coffee and caffeine can change the GI tract’s speed and the rate of acid and enzymes in your stomach, causing abdominal pain.
- The caffeine in coffee also triggers insomnia, anxiety, and even an irregular heartbeat, leading to symptoms that affect the body as a whole and not just the GI tract.
How to Limit The Effects of Caffeine
If it’s the caffeine that is affecting you, switching to a decaffeinated drink will certainly help. Remember, though, that decaffeinated coffee isn’t a cure-all. As mentioned above, it might make some digestive problems worse.
Caffeine does increase stomach acidity in some people, which often leads to heartburn. If decaf coffee doesn’t stop your symptoms, limit your coffee consumption to one cup a day.
Pay attention to the way coffee affects your body. Try cutting down or finding a substitute. If limiting yourself to one cup of coffee a day seems like going cold turkey, you’re drinking way too much coffee! To benefit your health and your digestion, see a doctor or gastroenterologist, Dr. Shawn Khodadadian of Gastroenterology New York practice, for help cutting your habit down to size.
Finally, suppose you suffer from GI problems like Crohn’s disease, Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), or ulcerative colitis (UC), In that case, you may not want to drink coffee as it could exacerbate some of your symptoms. When in doubt, see your doctor!
For more information about how coffee affects your digestive system, contact NYC Gastroenterologists.
