Coffee drinking habits may greatly impact makeup of gut biome, research suggests

Medical Xpress / Nature Microbiology ^ | Nov. 23, 2024 | Bob Yirka / Paolo Manghi et al / Nathan P. McNulty et al

[ConservativeMind]

A large international team of medical researchers has found that people who drink coffee regularly have much more of one type of gut bacteria than people who do not. In their study, the group analyzed stool and blood samples from a large number of patients and also studied similar data in large medical databases, looking for impacts of coffee drinking on the gut biome.

In this new study, the research team sought to learn more about the impact of a single food, or in this case a beverage, on the gut biome. They chose coffee for two reasons: First, because it is consumed by so many people; second, because it is either consumed every day or not at all.

To learn about the impact of coffee drinking on the gut biome, the researchers began by analyzing medical data for approximately 22,800 people living in the U.K. and the U.S. and for another 54,200 people in 211 cohorts. This allowed them to compare stool sample data from people who reported drinking coffee and those who did not, while exploring differences in the gut biome between the two groups.

The researchers found one major difference in the two groups—the population numbers of a bacteria called Lawsonibacter asaccharolyticus. Those people who drank coffee regularly had levels as high as eight times those who did not—and the difference held steady for people all around the globe.

The research team acknowledges that they do not know what impact higher levels of L. asaccharolyticus may have on people, but suggest it is likely associated with health benefits that have been attributed to coffee drinking. They suggest there are substantial impacts of a single food or beverage on the human gut biome.

[DennisR]

I eat dinner between 4-5 pm, so I have a few hours before I go to sleep. Even so, I can drink espresso later than that as long as I have food in my stomach. Strange, but true.

[MayflowerMadam]

Mom died four months before her 100th birthday. She and Dad drank coffee from the time they got up until they went to bed.

[Carriage Hill]

Here’s where I buy the Kona (Turkish grind):

https://www.monarchcoffee.com

[Chuckster]

My wife drinks coffee all day and night right up until bed time. She falls asleep immediately. Sleeps like the dead and starts over again first thing in the AM when I wake her up and tell her the coffee is ready.

I have to stop drinking coffee at noon or I have trouble sleeping.

[Chuckster]

I drink Kona Hawaiian all day long.

I lived in Hawaii for 30 years. Always thought that Kona stuff was weak. Give me French roasted Columbian any day over Kona.

[Carriage Hill]

Kona is a light-to-medium roast, but there are now several varieties of the single-origin bean, that are dark roasted, and those are the ones I order. Nice to have a choice between light-medium-dark Kona.

[Adder]

That’s me...my 10 cup pot in the am then done...otherwise I can’t sleep.

Must be a gene thing.

[The Westerner]

I'd drink real Kona coffee all day, too. Now if I had a good Blue Mountain Jamaican coffee, I'd wake up at night to drink it! Used to order direct from both islands, but it's become an expensive luxury now.

[Carriage Hill]

Fool’s Coffee is a good source of BMJ Coffee, so I treat myself 4-5x/year:

https://coffeefool.com/fools-jamaican-blue-mountain-8oz/

[StAnDeliver]

"I have to stop drinking coffee at noon or I have trouble sleeping."

Same. Light roast. Maybe 2 1/2 cups. Done by noon.

[foundedonpurpose]

I limit myself to a large pot a day. We all die of something. I’ll be happy with it 😊!