Does coffee make you poop?

[Snerk]

/title

Now not necessarily every time you have a cup of brown. But will it quite often usher in a trip to the porcelain throne?

For me, yes.

I thought it was the same for everybody. But now I am told it varies a lot.

 

[Formaldehyde]

Nope. Not at all.

But it apparently does with some. Here is an apparently somewhat definitive guide to this matter thanks to the magic of google.

Coffee Makes You Poop - Who, When & Why

 

[trader/warrior]

Of the people in the study who said coffee made them poop, 52 percent said that coffee only made them poop in the morning.

Huh, my immediate thought was that coffee does make me poop sometimes, but mostly in the evening. During my typical morning or work time coffees I'm usually to active and busy to feel any poopage reaction, but those times I decide to have a big cup of coffee in front of the computer at home I almost always feel the need coming on.

 

[Loppan Torkel]

Depends on the coffee and circumstance. Bad automate coffee is worse than dry-frozen coffee, for example, also being at home increases the chance.

 

[Formaldehyde]

It might have something to do with the acidity.

 

[caketastydelish]

Getting a pot to make you a cup of brown makes you sit on the pot to get rid of a cup of brown. Duh?

 

[warpus]

Sometimes. Tim Horton's "coffee" often disagrees with my stomach, which is why I stopped drinking it.

 

[Formaldehyde]

Coffee that has been allowed to sit on a warmer is just plain nasty in relatively short order. You should always try to get coffee that has just brewed. And avoid the stuff that has been sitting for more than 30 minutes or so like the plague.

 

[Borachio]

I find any caffeine highly diuretic, at the moment. I've not noticed any increase in poop.

 

[Smellincoffee]

Having been a chronic drinker (and perpetual smeller) of coffee for at least the past decade, I have never noticed a correlation between amount of coffee consumed and amount of porcelain sitting.

 

[Borachio]

Ah. But you wouldn't, would you?

The only people who are going to notice a difference are those who either stop drinking coffee, or those who have only just started. Or those who've given it up but still drink it intermittently.

Hmm. Or maybe you'd notice the difference between how long you spend on the toilet and how much non-coffee drinkers spend on the toilet.

(This is more complicated than I thought.)

That could be confounded by the speed of pooping, though.

When in doubt: google it.

http://www.livescience.com/45465-why-does-coffee-make-you-poop.html

One study, published in 1990 in Gut, a journal of gastroenterology, found that coffee induces a "gastrocolonic response" in some individuals just minutes after they consume the beverage. While the study failed to identify the exact cause of this response, researchers hypothesized that coffee somehow affects the epithelial tissue lining the stomach and the small intestine.

The Gut study also found that coffee promotes the release of gastrin, a hormone produced within the stomach and known to increase motor activity in the colon. As this area of the of the colon is closest to the rectum, researchers concluded that increased activity there could be responsible for coffee's laxative effects.

While certain health professionals believe it's the caffeine in coffee that causes heightened motor activity — or contractions — in the colon, the Gut study found that in certain individuals even decaffeinated coffee stimulates the need to defecate. This led the researchers to conclude that it's not caffeine, but some other substance in coffee that's responsible for the drink's reputation as a purgative.

Coffee conundrum

It might seem contradictory that drinking coffee, which has long been considered a diuretic (or dehydrating) beverage, can result in bowel movements. After all, dehydration is a common cause of constipation. But in recent years, scientific research has demonstrated that coffee does not have the diuretic properties long ascribed to it.

A 2003 study published in the Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics found that a strong tolerance for the diuretic properties of coffee often develops in individuals who regularly consume the beverage. In fact, the authors of the study found that the dose of caffeine contained in two to three cups of coffee does not affect the average amount of urine excreted from the body on a given day.

 

[azzaman333]

Probably, although it seems to be caffeine in general, rather than specifically coffee.

 

[Mise]

If I poop it's because of all the All Bran and raw fruit and vegetables I eat. Not sure how much of a role coffee plays tbh.

 

[REDY]

Coffein and nicotine helps to poop.

But I poop every morning and without coffee (my first coffee is about hour later in work).