Do you know the three functions of coffee?

Can coffee promote digestion, increase beneficial intestinal bacteria and prevent constipation?

Nowadays, there are more and more coffee shops on the streets, and more and more Chinese people are also fond of coffee.

Although coffee has a stimulating effect on certain digestive processes, in addition to the enjoyment it brings to the drinker's taste buds, it may also have a protective effect on the digestive system.

Recently, researchers summarized these functions as:

1. Promote digestion

2. Regulate intestinal flora

3. Stimulate colon motility.

First, promote digestion

For ordinary people, drinking coffee can promote the production of stomach, bile and pancreatic secretions, thereby helping digestion.

The experimenters provided the subjects with 100 ml of coffee with different caffeine content and measured the subjects' gastric acid and hormone secretion levels after drinking.

Surprisingly, the gastrin levels of the subjects who drank low-caffeine coffee were 1.7 times higher than those who did not drink coffee, while the gastrin levels of the subjects who drank high-caffeine coffee were 2.3 times higher.

Gastrin plays an important role in the breakdown of food in the stomach. In addition, coffee can stimulate the secretion of cholecystokinin, a hormone that increases bile secretion. It can stimulate the release of bile from the gallbladder into the intestines, stimulate intestinal peristalsis, and speed up bowel movements. In addition, it can also stimulate the pancreas to secrete digestive enzymes, thereby helping to digest food.

Second, promote defecation

It is said that 3 out of 10 people want to defecate after drinking coffee. Studies have shown that within 4 minutes of consuming regular coffee and decaffeinated coffee, the subjects' rectal sigmoid colon motility response increased and lasted for at least 30 minutes. This shows that drinking coffee can stimulate the distal colon motility response of some normal people.

Someone compared the stimulating effect of coffee on bowel movements and found that coffee stimulates colon peristalsis as much as cereals, 23% more than decaffeinated coffee, and 60% more than a glass of water.

Drinking coffee may reduce chronic constipation

Third, improve intestinal flora

You may not know that another benefit of drinking coffee is that it can promote the transformation of intestinal flora composition towards "good bacteria". A research team from Baylor College of Medicine in the United States once found that compared with people who rarely or never drink coffee, coffee lovers have much healthier intestinal microbiomes. I think many people will be relieved to see this.

Drinking more than two cups of coffee a day can show the following associations:.

1. The intestinal bacteria are more diverse and more evenly distributed in the intestines.

2. The bacterial composition has better anti-inflammatory properties. For example, the abundance of Faecalibacterium and Roseburia, which are beneficial to anti-inflammatory, is higher.

3. However, bacteria such as Erysipelatoclostridium that are related to metabolic abnormalities and obesity are relatively rare.

Caffeine or other nutrients in coffee may affect the metabolism of intestinal bacteria, and the metabolic end products of bacteria may in turn affect our bodies.

But we still have to distinguish what kind of coffee tastes good. I believe that instant coffee will not have such an effect. American coffee may be difficult for many people to swallow.

Want a cup of coffee☕️?

CAFFEINE CONSUMPTION AND THE COLONIC MUCOSA-ASSOCIATED GUT MICROBIOTA. Program No. P1916. ACG 2019 Annual Scientific Meeting Abstracts. San Antonio, Texas: American College of Gastroenterology.