Is coffee a laxative?

For some people drinking coffee is an ordinary routine. Someone feels better with a cup of coffee to start the day. For many, it doesn’t only wake up their brain but also their bowels.

So has coffee a laxative effect? According to a study at Digestive Disease Week 2019, coffee helps bowels move but it doesn’t seem to be about caffeine. Some researchers in Texas found that feeding rats with coffee increased the muscle motility and suppressed bacteria, regardless of the caffeine because caffeine-free coffee had a similar effect.

After the rats were fed with coffee for three days, the number of bacteria in their feces was decreased. However, more research is needed to determine whether reduced bacteria are bad or good.

Anyway, these results might be useful for additional research to establish whether coffee drinking might be a treatment to post-operative constipation, in which intestine quit working after abdominal surgery.

Source ddw.org