For every 3 people who drink coffee, there is 1 sad person defecating: Why is that?

If you're a regular coffee drinker, you'll know that this caffeine drink not only keeps you awake in the morning, but it also makes you stand up and go to the toilet.

While the laxative effect of coffee has long been known, scientists still do not know why this happens. Until they were determined to go to the end of the mystery, with an experiment: Let the rats drink coffee and watch their defecation.

Preliminary results of this study will be presented at the weekend, at a scientific conference called " Digestive Week " in the United States. Before the conference, the truth was revealed in part to us: It turns out, the laxative effect of coffee has nothing to do with caffeine.

Coffee works to stimulate bowel movements.

New research is carried out by scientists from the University of Texas Medical School. In it, they gave mice a small cup of coffee for three consecutive days, a group of rats drinking coffee often contained caffeine, while the other group drank decaf coffee (no caffeine).

Later, the researchers examined the intestinal system of mice, focusing on spasmic muscles that help them push food (and eventually waste) through the intestine. Finally, they studied how muscle tissue from the intestine reacted directly to coffee in the laboratory.

The results show that the truth is clear: the muscles in the small intestine and the colon are able to contract better after the mice drink coffee, meaning everything from food to waste, can move quickly. more along their gut.

" Coffee works to stimulate bowel movements and is not related to caffeine . We can experience this even with coffee that has removed caffeine, so the laxative effect does not depend on it. " The lead author of the study, Xuan-Zheng Shi, assistant professor of internal medicine at the University of Texas told Gizmodo over the phone.

It must be said that this is not the first study to show that muscle in the intestine is directly affected by coffee. Since the 1990s, researchers have found that healthy people addicted to coffee often have stronger intestinal motility after drinking black coffee.

But Professor Shi's research is the first evidence that even caffeine-containing coffee has this effect. The 1990 study showed effects lasting 4 minutes. After coffee has indirect effects on the colon through the small intestine or stomach, about 30% of those who finish coffee will be sad to defecate.

About 30% of those who finish their coffee will be sad to defecate.

Despite this, going further than the research done in the past two decades, Associate Professor Shi and his team analyzed the feces of mice who drank coffee. Compared to the droppings of mice that didn't drink, the droppings of these mice had fewer bacteria.

When small pieces of stool were dipped into a petri dish with a solution of 1.5% coffee mixed, the bacteria stopped growing; The same but stronger effect can be seen when the stool sample is exposed to a 3% coffee solution.

Like previous results, caffeine-reducing coffee produces a similar effect.

" It is interesting, it means that coffee can be an antibacterial agent, and we can see this - again - with caffeine-reduced coffee, " said Associate Professor Shi. " However, we need to study more about the problem, why can coffee have an effect on inhibiting such microorganisms?".

At this point, it is still too early to say exactly how coffee can affect the bacteria that live inside our intestines. Known as the gut microbiota , this population includes both good bacteria and bad bacteria.

We know that the gut microbiota is a fragile and vulnerable environment. If coffee kills, washes away or slows down the growth of good bacteria, it will be very bad. Conversely, if it kills bad bacteria, this will benefit our body.

Other studies have shown an association between intestinal microflora and intestinal motility. Some studies show that coffee works to reduce the rate of colon cancer. But Shi said, we need more research to make a final conclusion.

Coffee can be considered an easy-to-find laxative.

At this point, it is still too early to say exactly how coffee can affect the bacteria that live inside our intestines.

So now, science can only tell you: for every 3 people who drink coffee, there will be 1 sad person. Therefore, coffee can be considered an easy laxative, to help people with constipation or loss of temporary bowel movements, because complications can occur after some types of surgery or improved sex. form.

Meanwhile, for those who wonder if they can use coffee to " detox ", remove toxins from the intestines as a form of enema, this study is not a proof for that.

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