How coffee changes your gut bacteria in just two weeks

Are you someone who swears by coffee? Then this is one interesting discovery that can make your gut healthy and happy! For a time people have known that coffee is good for your digestion and helps you think more clearly but nobody really understood how it works. Now a new study from APC Microbiome Ireland at University College Cork has taken a look and figured out how coffee affects the way your digestive system and brain talk to each other. By comparing people who drink coffee every day to those who do not, scientists have found some changes that happen when you drink your morning coffee.

The change in your microbiome
As per a digital journal, ScienceDaily, researchers studied 31 people who drink coffee every day and were asked to stop drinking it for two weeks. During this time scientists saw a change: the way the microbes in their gut worked was very different from the people who do not drink coffee. This means that drinking coffee every day creates a balance of microbes in your gut that changes when you stop drinking it.


Helping the good bacteria in gut
The study found that coffee drinkers have more good bacteria in their gut, like Eggertella sp. and Cryptobacterium curtum. These bacteria help keep you healthy by making acid and bile, which fight off infections. The study also found that coffee drinkers have Firmicutes, a type of bacteria that has been linked to feeling happy, especially in women. This suggests that coffee might actually help you feel happier by changing the balance of microbes in your gut.

Caffeine vs. Decaf
One thing the study found was that coffee affects your brain differently depending on whether it has caffeine or not. People who drank coffee got better at learning and remembering things, probably because decaf coffee has a lot of polyphenols. On the other hand, coffee with caffeine was the only type that helped reduce anxiety and improve attention and alertness while also reducing inflammation. Even though there were some differences, both groups of people felt less stressed and impulsive, which shows that coffee has a lot of benefits for your mood without the caffeine.


Digestive Health
Professor John Cryan, who led the study, says that we should think of coffee as a food that affects our health rather than just a morning pick-me-up. Because coffee changes the way microbes work together and what they produce, it could be used to help balance your gut health. The study shows that whether you like coffee with caffeine or without it has an impact on your metabolism emotional well-being and long-term health.