A cup of coffee in the morning has an interesting effect on many people: it makes them poop. (No, you’re not the only one.) Coffee doesn’t make everyone go to the bathroom, but for some people it does. Why does coffee make you poop? This is a question that many people who drink coffee ask.
Here’s what we know: It turns out that some people poop because of how their bodies work.
The chemicals in coffee make gastrin, a hormone that makes the gut muscles move. Some people need to go to the bathroom about 2 to 3 minutes after drinking coffee because this makes their bowels move.
There are other reasons for that second reason in the morning. Some people are allergic to things like dairy products that they put in their cups. Some people may have a reaction to how acidic their coffee is.
Let’s go over everything you need to know to understand why coffee makes you go to the bathroom.
Caffeine Can Activate Your Colon
One of the best places to get energy is coffee.
Caffeine is a natural drug that wakes you up and keeps you sharp.
About 95 mg of caffeine is in a single cup of brewed coffee.
Caffeine is a great way to get more energy, but it may also make you want to go to the bathroom. A number of studies have shown that it can make your colon and intestinal muscles tighten.
When the colon contracts, it moves food toward the rectum, which is the last part of your digestive system.
Researchers have found that caffeine makes the stomach move 60% more than water and 23% more than decaffeinated coffee.
However, research has shown that decaf coffee can also make you want to go to the bathroom. This shows that other chemicals or factors are to blame.
What does coffee do to your body and gut?
More than 1,000 different things can be found in coffee. We don’t understand all of them yet, but we are learning more about what happens to the body when you drink coffee. How does coffee work in your stomach?
A hormone called gastrin is made by the cells that line your stomach. Your stomach sends a message to your brain to make gastrin. This starts a wave of stomach movements called peristalsis. Food and liquid are moved through the bowels by peristalsis. Some people have to go to the bathroom right away because of this.
Both coffee with caffeine and coffee without caffeine make your stomach produce gastrin. Even though decaf coffee has less of an effect, it still has one. Coffee’s caffeine and acids affect other parts of your digestive system, and it’s likely that other substances in coffee affect digestion and bowel movements in ways we don’t yet understand.
Does the caffeine in coffee make you poop?
In many ways, caffeine gets the body going. We thought for a long time that caffeine was the thing that made the bowels move. But some tests show that it’s not just the caffeine that’s doing it.
One study found that caffeine softens the anal sphincter, which is the part of the body that keeps stool in or lets it out. This makes pooping easy. Another study showed that caffeinated coffee made the muscles in the large intestine contract more than decaf.
However, during the tests, decaf coffee still had some effect on these muscle contractions. Caffeine seems to make a difference, but that’s probably not the whole story.
Does the type of coffee you drink make a difference?
Yes, the kind of coffee you drink can have a big effect on how you feel about coffee. Taste and smell are affected by things like where the coffee beans come from, how much they are roasted, and how they are brewed. For example, a dark roast may have stronger tastes, while a light roast may have more subtle ones. The way the coffee is made also affects its strength and taste. So, if you want to enjoy your daily cup, you need to choose the right kind of coffee for your tastes.
Caffeinated vs. decaf coffee
Even though it’s called “decaf,” coffee still has some caffeine in it, despite what the name suggests. However, a 2022 study “suggested that regular coffee gives more of a kick to the colon than decaf,” says Staller. In older studies, it was also found that coffee with caffeine seemed to make more gastrin come out than coffee without caffeine. These studies show that caffeine might be to blame, but it probably isn’t acting alone, like a tween who steals watermelon lip balm from CVS.
Hot vs. iced coffee
Even though there aren’t any studies measuring the effects of hot coffee vs. iced coffee on bowel movements, Staller says, “We do know that it’s not just the temperature of the coffee that makes the bowels move,” which is true. One paper released in 2020, for example, found that warm coffee helped patients who had laparoscopic gynecological surgery get rid of constipation faster than hot water. A 2014 study on rats found that their colons moved more slowly when they were given cold water instead of room temperature water.
It might affect hormones and stomach acid
Your hormones and stomach gas can be affected by the kind of coffee you drink. Caffeine is a natural booster that can change how hormones work. In some cases, drinking too much caffeine can make it hard to sleep, raise stress chemicals like cortisol, or make you feel jittery and speed up your heart rate.
Also, coffee is acidic, which means it can cause stomach pain or acid reflux in some people. Most dark roasts are less acidic than light roasts, so choosing the right amount of roasting may help with these problems. Also, how the coffee is made counts. For example, cold brew coffee is usually less acidic than hot brew coffee.
In the end, coffee can be good for your health if you drink it in moderation. However, it’s important to be aware of your own tolerance and tastes so you can enjoy its benefits while minimizing any possible drawbacks.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the need to go to the bathroom after having coffee is caused by more than one thing. The effects of caffeine on the digestive system and the fact that coffee can cause the stomach to make more acid can both add to this. The fact that coffee makes the hormone gastrin come out, which speeds up bowel movements, also plays a role. But not everyone feels this effect because different people are sensitive to different things. Overall, it’s well known that coffee can make you go to the bathroom, but it’s important to think about your own tolerance and habits when trying to figure out why coffee may make some people need to go.