Which one it actually is for YOU depends on three factors. You've been told coffee is a superfood. You've also been told it's poison. Once you learn them you'll be able to know exactly why coffee causes you issues, and best of all rebuild a body that gains all the benefits.
What Does Coffee Actually Do to a Healthy Gut?
Because in a healthy system there's actually a very specific bacteria called L. asaccharolyticus which is 8x higher in coffee drinkers. It produces butyrate that protects and rebuilds the gut lining. In fact coffee feeds many of these producers, but if the systems broken it can also create an environment where pathogens thrive.
So first of all why do some people get loose, watery stools and that horrible histamine anxiety feeling from coffee?
Well it has a lot to do with your gut lining suprise suprise. If your gut lining is sensitive or your mucus lining is thinned, the acidity of coffee can further agitate this. This leads to liquid not being pulled OUT of the intestines into the body, but the liquids actually get pulled IN (watery stools).
I've covered this a lot in other posts, but a few tools I like are curcumin quercetin and boswellia, zinc l carnosine and lactoferrin/colostrum for repairing the gut lining.
- curcumin quercetin and boswellia
- zinc l carnosine
- lactoferrin/colostrum
In a healthy gut again coffee may lead to more butyrate producers, meaning a stronger gut lining. But if the systems already broke you have to fix it first.
Why Does Coffee Trigger Bile-Related Watery Stools?
But let's say you handle other acidic foods fine, is there any other reasons coffee can cause such a reaction?
Well we have to look back at the gut lining, but from a different angle.
See coffee is well known for stimulating digestion, one of the ways it does this is it hits the wall of the intestine and sends a trigger for bile to be released much like stomach acid does. But if you've got improperly made bile or you have an overgrowth of bacteria degrading bile then the healthy bile acids become toxic.
And as we discussed before, irritation of the gut lining = watery stools.
If this is you Phosphatidylcholine, Taurine, Glycine, Ox bile, TUDCA, Propolis and Calcium D-Glucarate are all useful tools to look into.
- Phosphatidylcholine
- Taurine
- Glycine
- Ox bile
- TUDCA
- Propolis
- Calcium D-Glucarate
Again if you don't have bile issues or if you do once you've remedied them, coffee can be amazing for stimulating bile flow. Better fat digestion. More ghost wipes. More fat-soluble vitamins. But only if the bile is working first.
Is Coffee's Histamine Effect the Real Culprit?
What if your gut lining is fine. Your fat digestion is fine. What's left?
Well let's look deeper at a very specific side effect that most people chalk up to caffeine:
Jitters/Anxiety.
What else do we know that does this? Oh yeah histamine.
And it just so happens that coffee is a histamine liberator meaning for those who are sensitive coffee can cause these side effects.
See histamine is only really seen as the wired but tired molecule when really it has a massive impact on digestion. It's one of the biggest regulators of motility and osmotic gradient in the gut.
In fact just 30 minutes after coffee consumption histamine levels can raise up to 80%. That'll lead to once again more water being pulled in instead of out, and also histamine itself can speed up motility worsening the effects.
I'm not going to do a full histamine explanation here as i've got a really good in depth post on that on my profile.
But essentially it boils down to the gut lining, the bacteria and deficiencies. So on that note some useful tools for this are: PEA, DAO, B6 + Copper at appropriate doses, s boulardii and Quercetin if you're not extremely sensitive.
- PEA
- DAO
- B6 + Copper at appropriate doses
- s boulardii
- Quercetin if you're not extremely sensitive
So maybe when you first started reading this post coffee made your gut issues worse, but now you've got a clue as to what those issues actually are and a few tools to help you with them.
If you're not sure where to go from here, or just want to get to your ideal gut as quickly as possible, as safely as possible and most important not pay the fee of 1:1 coaching, my new AI health coach GutFix can help support you.
