Coffee Helps Gut Motility and Suppresses Bacteria, and It's Not the Caffeine

[YippeeKi YOW !!]

Coffee appears to increase the ability of the muscles in the small intestine to contract, whether decaf or regular coffee was used …. and coffee suppressed bacteria along with the increased muscle motility, regardless of caffeine content.

So either decaf or regular is worth trialing.

I know quite a few of us have bad reactions to coffee and even tea, myself included, which is why, with the deepest sadness and regret, I had to cut it out completely, leaving me additionally zombified in the morning.

Desperate for a little more oomph in the AM, I recently started slowly adding coffee back into my daily regimen, mostly because I really, really missed it. I'm currently up to 2/3rds decaf and 1/3 regular grind, and so far, so good.

With this new info, I feel comfortable keeping the current 2:1 blend. It doesn't cause any increase in anxiety or additional symptoms, and no caffeine jitters, but it does help me with energy, unless it's a really bad day. And so far, there's no cure for that, at least none that I've found.

Here's the link to the Science Daily article:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/05/190519123556.htm

 

[roller]

 

[bombsh3ll]

I've not been able to tolerate coffee since becoming ill

Tbh I was never a big coffee drinker anyway but actually I would sometimes drink it to help me go! It always had a very pronounced diuretic effect on me too, which I couldn't handle now with the already low blood volume.

Great that small doses are helping you though!

Coffee is associated with (but not proven to cause) a number of health benefits including less parkinson's alzheimers and bowel cancer. (I've always hoped this is simply due to healthier individuals to begin with being more likely to tolerate it.)

B xxx

 

[nanonug]

I'm the in the "I'd rather die than not drink coffee" camp. After all, what is life without pleasure? But it does exacerbate anxiety. So, what do I do? I take an antidepressant (Effexor XR) that works very well for me and completely eliminates any anxiety driven by caffeine intake.

 

[bombsh3ll]

I take an antidepressant (Effexor XR) that works very well for me and completely eliminates any anxiety driven by caffeine intake.

That's really interesting that a "stimulating" antidepressant calms you! I have severe POTS & have never dared try anything in that family, although some swear by it.

B xxx

 

[Mary]

Glad to see this @YippeeKi YOW !! - my morning cup of coffee is the high point of my day! I've been using a French press for 15 years and it makes the best coffee, so I'm totally spoiled. I'm fortunate that I don't react badly to it!

 

[nanonug]

That's really interesting that a "stimulating" antidepressant calms you!

Venlafaxine is approved for both panic attacks and generalized anxiety disorder. The first couple of weeks were rather uncomfortable but after that it's been an amazing drug for me. It also has a mild effect on blood pressure, by increasing it, and that also appears to help somehow.

 

[Rufous McKinney]

my morning cup of coffee is the high point of my day!

Its like a litmus test here: if I feel lousier than usual: I just know I cannot drink a cup of coffee.

I typically have one cup, but if I am sliding down AT ALL, it just feels yucky to drink coffee.

 

[YippeeKi YOW !!]

I've not been able to tolerate coffee since becoming ill

@bombsh3ll
I hear you ..... I was the same way, but it got so hard to get going in the AM that I started trialing a 1/2 reg coffee, 5 parts decaf out of despair. It was a little rocky at first, but my body seemed to acclimate by the start of the second week or so. Since then, I;ve been pushing the envelope, gently but steadily, and so far, so good.

I hope you find something that works for you along those lines. It's really made a difference for me. It's the morning ritual, the easing-into-the-day protocol.

I'm the in the "I'd rather die than not drink coffee" camp.

@nanonug
Oh God, yes!!! One of the harder things I've had to do/give up/try/research was the morning coffee. If the panic attacks, tachycardia, brain pressure, etc hadn't been so bad, you'd have had to pry it out of my cold dead hands. As it was, it felt like cold dead hands was a given if I didn't give it up.

I'm so overjoyed that, even in this dilute (but still effective and tasty) form, I can have my morning cuppa or two again.

my morning cup of coffee is the high point of my day!

@Mary
Hear, hear !!! It's my brief daily safe space, as I sip that first cup and wait for it's little magic to work. It was sooooo hard to give it up.

I've been using a French press for 15 years and it makes the best coffee

I've been thinking about dusting off my old French press, but then I think of having to clean it, then run that water thru a coffee filter to get all the grounds out, then rinse repeat. That would pretty much offset the benefits of the coffee I'm thinking, so I just fumble along with my equally ancient Melita.

if I feel lousier than usual: I just know I cannot drink a cup of coffee.

@Rufous McKinney
Ohhhhh, I'm so sorry ..... like I;ve said above, now that I've found a way to re-incorporate it into my life, I don;t know how I got along without it for those 3 years or so.

Here's hoping that you can find a hack that lets it work for you again, even on the iffy days.

 

[perchance dreamer]

I've been thinking about dusting off my old French press, but then I think of having to clean it, then run that water thru a coffee filter to get all the grounds out, then rinse repeat. That would pretty much offset the benefits of the coffee I'm thinking, so I just fumble along with my equally ancient Melita.

@YippeeKi YOW !! have you ever used an AeroPress? I like it as much as French press coffee, and it's much easier to clean. To throw away the grounds, you just back up the plunger a couple of inches and press. The grounds land in the garbage in a tidy wad without you having to touch them.

The AeroPress makes a strong coffee concentrate that you then add water, milk, or cream to. When I was still drinking coffee, I'd make the concentrate, add coconut milk, and then whip with a little stick blender. It was divine.

https://www.amazon.com/AeroPress-Co...515&s=home-garden&sprefix=aero,aps,176&sr=1-3

I had always been such a coffee fiend, but I just woke up one day, and coffee no longer appealed to me. Now I drink black tea instead and am crazy about it. I did hate to give up the antioxidants and other benefits of coffee, but tea is healthy, too.

 

[YippeeKi YOW !!]

@perchance dreamer
Wow !!! You reminded me of something I'd totally forgotten, and that I'd looked into, very casually, several years ago, I think because of the difficulty of cleaning the French press tho I cant really say. Mists of time and all.

I'll take a look again, and thank you so much for reminding me. I never would have brought it to mind again if you hadn't. I remember that the reviews on Amazon were stellar, but because of some heavy duty stresses, it just slipped on by, down thru the cracks.

From what I've read, black tea has considerable benefits, so you're just shifting the source, not losing the good stuff. Just more and different good stuff.

 

[Wolfcub]

I just love my morning cup of coffee. I buy a ground coffee, strength "3" which is smooth and mellow and my favourite. I don't use any fancy method of making it, just the "jug brew" method -and broke my coffee jug....way back now.
So I brew it in one mug and pour it through a tea strainer into my drinking mug. I make it quite weak too, only 1 teaspoonful per mug.

And I have a strange relationship with it.
I would not know what to do without it. But at unpredictable times it gives me that nasty inner vibration-thingy with heart palpitations and horrible restlessness, and a creepy feeling.
There really is never any way of predicting this outcome.
On other days it is just fine! And I can have a half-cup more! Happy days.

That reaction doesn't seem related to whether I feel good or bad at core level either. It is just a devilish little thing that seems to have a mind of its own.

However...I have noticed that the more tired I am from lack of sleep the better the coffee sits with me. If I've had a wonderful sleep, it often affects me badly even on days when I don't feel so bad.

Oddly, if ever I have drunk it in the wee small hours (because by then I have ceased caring what happens) -it has NO bad effect at all.

And yes....to get back to the actual topic of your thread.....( to me)
Coffee definitely does assist intestinal peristalsis.

 

[YippeeKi YOW !!]

@Wolfcub
What a lovely post !!!

Like you, I have a complicated relationship with coffee, now that I;ve started it again. Even with the diluted 2:1 blend.

But at unpredictable times it gives me that nasty inner vibration-thingy with heart palpitations and horrible restlessness, and a creepy feeling.

As soon as I feel anything untoward, I immediately pop some mag glycinate, and that usually heads it off, or reduces it to a vague sense of impending twitch. Food helps, too.

That reaction doesn't seem related to whether I feel good or bad at core level either. It is just a devilish little thing that seems to have a mind of its own.

Ditto. Just like the rest of this tiresome little ass-hattery of an illness. Things happen for no reason, reactions to the tried and true change for no reason, you feel good or bad, usually for little to no fathomable reason. Fehhhh !!

Coffee definitely does assist intestinal peristalsis.

It absolutely does, along with perking up the spirits, at least usually. And I'm hoping the bacterial intervention mentioned in the study is an accurate assessment, too.

 

[BeADocToGoTo1]

Love coffee, and the many months I could not tolerate it were some of the worst. The sound of the grinder, the smell of freshly roasted beans, the sounds of the espresso machine, the steam coming off the cup, etc. are all very cozy.

For those that have a hard time with it, these side effects could be related:

• Caffeine can raise adrenaline levels
• It can lower insulin production and spike blood glucose levels
• It is an adenosine receptor antagonist
• It can impact heart rate regulation
• It can release calcium from intracellular store
• It can interfere with GABA receptors

For a while I would have Kaffree Roma, which is fake coffee, but you can suspend disbelief for a bit. It is not gluten free so check the ingredients.