Is Coffee Good for Gut Health?

Author's Bio: Marcie Vaske, MS, LN, CNS

Hi, and welcome back to our channel.

Today we're going to uncover coffee and the impacts it has on gut health.

We'll go through what potential benefits there are. We'll talk about what kind of impact there might be for negatively for gut health. We'll follow up with some tips on if you want to drink coffee, what's the best way to preserve gut health.

But before we dig into that, first, my name is Marcie Vaske, and I'm a functional licensed nutritionist with Oswald Digestive Clinic. And at Oswald Digestive Clinic, we work very hard to help your gut feel the best it can. I'm going to link our website here where you can easily make an initial appointment or our free guide, which is Five Ways to Improve Your Gut Health. So if you just want some more information before you make your initial appointment, that guide is a great one to take a look at.

[Video Transcript Below Video - it is the same information]

So jumping back into our topic today and answering the question,

Is Coffee Good for Gut Health?

While coffee really does offer a variety of different benefits, it can be pretty negatively impacted for some people, and that's what we're going to learn about today. But before we get into that, I just want to talk about some of the positives or benefits of coffee.

The Benefits of Coffee for Gut Health

Coffee has been researched for years and we hear the good and the bad. So some of the positives that research has found and that you may have even felt is coffee can support cognitive and mental health. It can help support our physical and metabolic systems in our body. It also can support heart health and longevity.

But what does it do for our gut? Specifically, coffee can be a positive for gut health, but it all comes down to how much coffee you consume. So before I get into the benefits and how it does support our gut health, what are some of the negatives that come along with coffee drinking?

And one of 'em is that on the gut, coffee is very acidic and can be very harsh on the stomach so that acidity can cause some more inflammation in our digestive system. It can create symptoms like bloating or gas or diarrhea for some. In addition to those symptoms, because of the acidity of coffee, you may experience heartburn or if you have acid reflux, you may notice that drinking coffee just really flares that symptom right up. In addition to that, it also can, if you're drinking coffee in excess, can also create an issue of just kind of irritable bowel actually. So some people, as I said, may feel like they get more loose stools or one of the things I hear a lot about is that there's a lot of cramping going on with drinking coffee and creating just an issue with that.

Now, not only causing some gut sensitivity and discomfort, coffee can also create a situation where we have leaky gut. So this is where the integrity of your intestinal tract has really gone inflamed and toxins are getting into our bloodstream creating more symptoms on top of just the initial gut symptom. And with that, lastly, there is also the impact of coffee on our gut microbiome. And as we know, and kind of what I'm talking about here with all of these negative symptoms is anything in excess is going to cause a problem. And drinking coffee in excess can create a microbiome that isn't as healthy as we'd like it to be. So some of the negative side effects of coffee really comes from consuming an excess of coffee. And what I mean by that is drinking over two or three cups a day, that's where you're going to start running into some of these gut issues.

More loose stools, more abdominal discomfort, possibly more acid reflux, even the more long-term condition of leaky gut. But if you're drinking coffee within a moderate amount, one to three cups per day, you may be actually getting some really amazing benefits from coffee. And I think this tipping pot, no pun intended, but kind of this tipping piece of not having too much, but just having a little bit is going to be where you can find benefit. And also where we run into hearing, well, coffee's just bad for you overall, but really it always comes down to how much you're consuming. And a little later on, I'll also discuss types of coffees.

Now, while too much coffee can kind of break down our microbiome, just enough coffee can actually build it up. So research has actually found that coffee can help promote a specific kind of bacteria in our gut, which is bifidobacteria.

Bifidobacteria is one of our most abundant flora in our gut. So by drinking your normal amount of coffee a day, you're actually doing service to your microbiome. And as I mentioned, drinking too much coffee can create more abdominal distress for people in terms of maybe running to the bathroom shortly after they have a cup of coffee. Coffee stimulates the bowel. And the way that it does this is it acts kind of like a mild laxative by stimulating the production of our gastric acid and our bile, this promotes our intestinal tract to move and stimulate that morning bile movement.

Another great piece about coffee is that it's full of polyphenols and antioxidants. Now, polyphenols help to really have an anti-inflammatory effect on our body and specifically our digestive system. So it can reduce the inflammation going on. And then also balance or help to promote like, like I said earlier, a great gut microbiome because coffee helps to reduce inflammation in our gut.

We have seen that in research, regular coffee drinkers actually have a lower level of CRP, which is C-reactive protein, and this is what you may get tested if they're looking for inflammation in your body. It's just a blood lab. So being a regular coffee drinker can bring down that CRP remember in moderation. In addition to that, it also helps because of reducing inflammation, helping us support leaky gut. So as I talked about, if you have way too much, you're going to have that inflammation going on and creating leaky gut. But a moderate amount of coffee really does help support leaky gut and doesn't kind of saves you or prevents that.

And lastly, coffee has been found to help reduce the risks of certain GI disease. So for example, people who are regular coffee drinkers may have a lower risk of colorectal cancer as well as liver disease.

So while most of the negative things that come from coffee or all of them really come from successive amounts of coffee, if you are a four six a cup a day coffee drinker, you need to start thinking about cutting that back because not only does it impact your gut so negatively, but there are also other areas in the body that it does impact.

The Downsides of Coffee on Gut Health

But if you are a certain kind of individual that is struggling with IBS acid reflux or even gastritis, coffee is not going to be your friend. And if you're struggling with those things, you already know it. So you've probably reduced it greatly or even taken it out because it is acidic, it really exacerbates those symptoms. Now, someone else that should maybe watch coffee intake is going to be anybody who's struggling with adrenal fatigue or chronic long-term stress. Coffee actually increases our cortisol.

So if you have a lot of stress going on in your life, reducing your coffee is going to be one way to help keep those cortisol levels in a healthier range. And of course, if you have any adrenal issues or adrenal fatigue, drinking coffee is only going to make things or exacerbate that even more. So as I said, there's things, there's super positive things about coffee, it's just finding that balance.

Tips for Drinking Coffee While Supporting Gut Health

So what are some tips on if you want to continue drinking coffee? The best way to do it, number one, is going to be keeping that coffee amount between one and three cups a day. Secondly, choosing a cold brew or a dark roast coffee is going to be less acidic, so causing less of that acidic symptoms that could arise. Also, drinking coffee with food is going to be really helpful. If we have a little bit of breakfast in us and then we drink our coffee, oftentimes we have a lot less gastric issue. And it also helps to promote better cortisol levels, as I talked about with the stress, and you just feel better overall, less jittery, all the things.

Also, you want to make sure that whatever roast that you do choose either a cold brew, a dark roast, that it is organic brand, because when coffee is one of the top most pesticide foods that are sprayed, so reducing any kind of pesticides in your body is going to be best and having more of getting the organic choice is also going to help reduce some of these symptoms that I'm talking about as well. Also, as we already kind of know, but I'm going to say it anyway, avoid a lot of those sugary coffees. They're nothing but it's like a candy bar and a cup. So I would just stay away from a lot of extra sugars and additives that go along in just a nice dark roast coffee.

You can put full fat whipping cream in there if you like, a little bit of cream. Also, if you're dairy intolerance, you can do a little bit of that full fat coconut milk. That's also going to be a great option, but just reduce or forego all the sugary stuff. It just creates more issues in general.

So I hope that this helped give you a little more information on is coffee good for gut health? Is it not okay to drink coffee? I think I get this question several times a week. Should I be doing it? Should I not be doing it? But it really comes down to you as a person and how your body is working.

Listen to Your Body

If you have any kind of digestive issues, you may want to just be more aware of how you are reacting to that intake of coffee, as well as probably cutting it down at least to one or two cups depending on your symptoms. Also, refraining from putting a lot of sugar in there and thinking about getting that lower acidic type coffee.

So thanks for watching today. Again, I've linked our website down below where you can easily make an initial appointment or of course, leave comments if you have questions. We're happy to answer.

Thanks for joining. Bye-bye.

If you'd like to explore any of this information further or obtain an individualized nutrition plan, you can schedule an initial appointment at our clinic.  We also take insurance and some of our clients get full coverage, which is great.

Or you can just start by downloading our FREE GUIDE: 5 WAYS TO IMPROVE GUT HEALTH