NO SHIT! WHY DOES COFFEE MAKE ME POOP?
Like most Golden Sinners, we love to start our day with that cup of black gold! This morning routine is often followed by a trip to the toilet (Darmstadt? Just joking, you have real city-trip tip there ;)). Why does coffee make me poop?
What exactly is it that’s in our coffee and causes this effect? Is it the caffeine? Acids?
We at Golden Sin will discuss this topic and give you tips to prevent this effect.
WHY DOES COFFEE MAKE ME POOP?
There’s no exact reason for this laxative effect of coffee. You can’t pick something out of it and say: that’s the main reason. According to research, it must be a combination of multiple factors.
Research by Brown stated that about 29% of the participants experienced an urge to poop, meaning 71 % didn’t experience this urge.
Thus coffee can have a laxative effect and trigger something we call the bowel movement after 30 minutes after consumption.
IS COFFEE A LAXATIVE?
Yes, coffee can be a laxative. It’s not always the case.
For a long time, we’ve thought that caffeine is responsible for stimulating the bowels. Caffeine can stimulate contractions in the colon, this process moves our “shit” out of our body.
Unfortunately, it’s not a one-stop conclusion you can take. It’s not only the amount of caffeine, acidity, and so on.
Human beings have other genetics and react in another way to the same things, as with coffee. Depending on who you are, coffee can be a laxative of worsening your problems and giving you unpleasant experiences.
IS COFFEE A DIURETIC?
A diuretic is a substance that increases the production of urine.
For most people, coffee is a mild diuretic. Some people are more sensitive to it than others.
If you drink a lot of coffee, you can recognize this in the fact that you need to pee often.
CAUSES OF LAXATIVE EFFECT OF COFFEE
We will discuss 3 factors that can contribute to the laxative effect of coffee.
ACIDS
As we’ve said before, the acidity of your coffee can be the cause. These acids don’t have the same effect on everyone. Multiple factors contribute to this effect. Just think about what you’ve consumed (food, drinks) before you had to go to the bathroom so quick. You can try low acid coffees to avoid this.
HORMONICAL REFLEX
If the first thing you do, thus on an empty stomach, is drinking coffee, then your body will know you’re about to eat.
Your body will want to get rid of what’s already digested to make room for other foods. This isn’t at the same speed for everyone. Some people go to the toilet 3 times a day, others once in a few days…
Coffee makes me poop every day!
LACTOSE INTOLERANCE
Drinking milk can cause increased gas and diarrhea in people who are lactose intolerant.
Lactose intolerance is the fact that you can’t digest the sugar in dairy.
Those people will want lactose-free products like soy, almond milk, or even other products like honey, cinnamon, and so on…
THE PROCESS BRIEFLY EXPLAINED
There’re multiple things that can cause this reaction. It’s naturally the strongest after you wake up and eat and drink.
Coffee can enhance the distal colon, the area of your colons that’s responsible for the quick exit of your poop.
This can trigger peristalsis, the symmetric contraction, and relaxation of your intestinal muscles.
POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM
We’ve now described the problem, now we want to talk about the possible solutions to our problems.
We divide the problems into about 3 areas: milk; caffeine, acidity and give you possible solutions to help you solve them.
#1. MILK
People who’re lactose intolerant will avoid this. Simply look for some alternatives out there like soy, almond milk to replace this in your coffee.
You can also use some syrup and other non-dairy milk alternatives (cinnamon, honey, and so on…).
#2. CAFFEINE
We all know those people who drink decaffeinated coffee to avoid the “bad” consequences of regular caffeinated coffee.
They’re wrong to think that decaffeinated coffee will solve your problems. It’s not as much as a regular cup of coffee.
You can look for darker roasts of coffee, generally, these can have lower amounts of caffeine because of their lower density.
Don’t drink coffee alone for breakfast, but also have some food (cereals, muesli …) to enhance the process.
#3. ACIDITY
You can use the following tips to lower the acidity of your cup of black gold!
LOW ACID COFFEE
We’ve said it before and repeat it to try this. These coffees are lower in acidity because of their way of roasting the selected beans for these coffees.
Mostly these beans come from Peru, Brazil… and they’re Arabica. There are others as well but just look for a low acid coffee.
COLD BREW YOUR COFFEE
We all know that we can hot brew our coffee, there’s also cold brew as a brewing method.
There are some beans that are really suited for cold brew.
Cold brew has about 70% fewer acids compared to hot brew.
ADD MILK
You can add milk to your cup of coffee because it will counterbalance the acids in your coffee.
#4 LOWER AMOUNT OF COFFEE
A general solution might be adjusting the amount of coffee you drink to 1 quality cup a day.
As this won’t be the case for many among us that favor this, because we all love coffee, it might be something to check.
Maybe lowering the amount a bit more can help you achieve a better experience while enjoying your coffee to the fullest.
IS THERE A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CAFFEINATED OR DECAFFEINATED COFFEE?
Yes, researchers found that caffeinated coffee stimulates it up to 23% more than decaffeinated coffee.
This means that we can’t conclude that caffeine is the one responsible for this stimulating this process.
It also depends on you or your medical background. In some cases, coffee can increase the development of acids in your body, causing painful and unpleasant experiences. You can try low acid coffee as a worthy alternative.
CONCLUSION
It’s true that coffee can enhance your need to poop, in most cases. Not everyone enjoys the same effects. The more you’ve got to go to the bathroom, the better for your health really.
You can tackle your discomfort by reducing your amount of coffee, acidity levels, caffeine levels, and so on.
If you’re unsure about this, by all means, ask for advice from your doctor. Don’t hold it up too long ;).
Enjoy your coffee!