Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, and welcome back to the Holistic Living podcast, where
we bridge science and holistic wellness. And today we're tackling
a popular but controversial topic, and that is coffee and
ibs and how coffee interacts with your gut and is
your morning brew messing.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
With your gut? And if so, why so?
Speaker 1 (00:23):
This episode will go deep into the immune modulating, inflammatory,
and neurological effects of coffee, especially for those dealing with
irritable bowel syndrome. So grab your tea or macha. Yes,
I said tea, and let's dive in to start. Before
I get into the research and all of it, I
(00:45):
will say I am a holistic nutritionist and homeopathic practitioner.
I've been in practice for almost almost a decade and
in that time I've worked with over seven thousand individuals
who have some type of auto inflammatory condition like I
yes or ezema, or autoimmune condition like psoriasis or rheumatard arthritis,
(01:05):
et cetera. And there is a very select few I'm
talking can count them on one hand of clients that
didn't need to cut out coffee to get improved results
or improve their symptoms. Coffee is not a bad beverage
it's not a bad food, and I don't want to
(01:26):
lead people to think that it is at all. And
I do have coffee here and there. It's not that
it's bad. It should It's something that does interact with
our immune system and with our gut and sometimes in
a negative way, whether we like it or not, and
because of that, it might be something that we need
to limit or restrict or cut out entirely for a
period of time. I never ask clients to cut something
(01:47):
out for life, unless it is an allergy. Obviously, if
you're celiac, you're going to cut out gluten, right, But
if I'm suggesting cutting out coffee or something like that,
it is a temporary measure to help let the body
reregulate without any additional inflammation drivers or things like that,
to get the results you want, and then you reintroduce
(02:07):
and everything in moderation is okay. So I wanted to
stress that because I know, right off the bat people
are going to think that I'm putting these labels on foods,
which I'm definitely not.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
So with all of that being said, let's talk about
first coffee and the gut brain access. The gut brain
access is the two way communication system between your central
nervous system and your enteric nervous system. It is key
in IBS, which is now widely recognized as a gut
brain disorder and not just a mechanical issue. And I've
made a whole podcast topic on our vagual nerve, our
(02:42):
enteric nervous system, our parasympathetic nervous system, and explaining how
all of these components of our central nervous system and
enteric nervous system interact with our gut and can lead
to IBS. So I won't really dive into more information
on that, but definitely scroll a ways down if you're
interested and listen to that episode.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
It was really really good.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
I gave you some really good tips and suggestions and
knowledge bits in there that you might not know about.
But for this episode, just do know that really everything
that's happening with IBS is connected to the brain. There's
that gut brain access mainly driven by or connected by
our vagal nerve, where inflammation in the brain can drive
GI inflammation, and then GI inflammation drives brain inflammation and
(03:24):
then you get stuck in this feedback loop. So with
all of that being said, we know that caffeine and
coffee is a central nervous system stimulant, so for people
with IBS, that stimulation can aggravate the nerves in the
GI tract. There was a twenty fifteen study done in
neurogastro Entrology and Motility, and it highlights how visceral hypersensitivity,
(03:47):
which is a hallmark of IBS, can worsen with stimulant exposure,
including caffeine, even alcohol, energy drinks, et cetera. So to
translate that, if you're already sensitive, coffee can increase that sensitivity,
driving cramps, urgency, you know, having to run to the washroom,
running stools, diarrhea, et cetera. What I also want to
(04:09):
talk about is the fact that anytime we have a stimulant,
whether it's like coffee or something else, it signals our adrenals.
It triggers our adrenals. Our adrenals end up releasing cortisol,
And when our adrenals are working and our cortisol is increasing,
that drives more GI inflammation. Through that mechanism of our
(04:30):
vagual nerve and our parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous system, It
drives our vagual nerve and the stress in our gut
for at least twenty four hours after and this oftentimes
will trigger an IBS flare. You don't necessarily have to
have a stress episode to have an IBS flare. You
can literally take a stimulant which can drive a similar
(04:53):
a similar type of stress response in the body, and
that will drive an IBS flare. So know how it
impacts your adream, does cause adrenal fatigue, does drive cortisol,
which can if you're drinking coffee every day, can lead
to insufficient cortisol, which means your body can't resolve inflammation,
and then of course impacts our vague nerve or central
(05:13):
nervous system, et cetera. So that's just the first thing
is it really does impact our our gut brain axis.
So now to talk about coffee and immune modulation. Our
gut is home to over seventy percent of our immune system.
They're saying about eighty percent these days. Coffee does contain
(05:33):
antioxidants that it can influence our immune response. Coffee is
not all bad, but some of these antioxidants and moderate
amounts are okay. However, coffee will trigger the release of
pro inflammatory cytokinds like interluken six, which is ile six
tnf alpha, and other inflammatory cyto kinds in certain individuals,
(05:54):
and if you have an autoimmune so if you have
IBS and you also have an autoimmune or if you
have not IBS but maybe IBD like a Crone's, which
is autoimmune, this is going to drive that autoimmune process.
So it's going to keep you in a flare or
trigger a flare, and if not immediately, it's not like
you take a sip of coffee and immediately you're expecting
(06:16):
a reaction. So a lot of times we don't associate
the flare or the reaction that we're having to our coffee.
You can drink a cup of coffee and not experience
anything for twenty four hours or even a day later,
and all of a sudden, a flare is happening and
you immediately go, what did I just eat? And whatever
you just ate is probably what you're going to blame
the flare on, which is not always accurate.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
It could have been something you had the.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Day before or a couple of days before. There was
a twenty nineteen study that was published in the Nutrients Journal,
and it found that coffee can modulate immune cell activity,
especially T one and TH seventeen cells, which are involved
in chronic inflammation and autoimmune activity, and two common underlying
issues in many IBS sufferers. I have not seen an
(07:00):
IBS client or an IBD client that has not had
elevated TH seventeen immune cells and either elevated or depleted
TH one And so taking, you know, drinking a beverage
like coffee which drives as TH seventeen cell production, you're
going to have even more histamine response in the gut
and more GI inflammation, which leads to more runny stools,
abdominal cramping, constipation, whatever, you know, whatever you're having there.
(07:24):
If your IBS has an immune or inflammatory component, which
many do, this immune stimulating effect from coffee will worsen
your symptoms. And again, it doesn't happen immediately for some
it can majority of people it happens later, and so
you don't usually associate it with your coffee. Also, coffee
(07:46):
is a bowel irritant and a laxative, even if you're
having DCAF, so coffee can make you poop. We all
know that it's not always.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
A good thing.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Though I know a lot of people rely on coffee
for their morning bowel movement, and if they don't have coffee,
they feel constipated that it not good. That means your
body does not know how to do a basic human thing,
which is have a bowel movement on its own, which
it should be doing. And so if your body is
reliant on the laxative, your body does not have the
mechanisms to have a bowel movement on its own, which
means you've lost your vagual nerve output. You've lost your
(08:18):
peristasis and motility, that migrating motor complex, which is that
downward motion that moves food and bacteria stool through the
colon and out. You've lost probably your microvilli and your
gut which are those tiny little finger like projections are
blunted or you know, not working as adequately. You've lost
your enzyme production. And much more so people who I
(08:41):
have family members and friends and clients who brag about, oh,
I can't have that morning bow movement unless I have
my coffee, and so I'm gonna have my coffee, and
it's like, that's not a flex. It means that there's
some major issues going on in the gut. Okay A
nineteen ninety. So it's a bit old study, but there's
been more recent ones too, But a study in a yeah,
(09:02):
it was nineteen ninety a study was confirmed that both
caffeinated and decafeated coffee will stimulate cholonic motor activity. And
it's not just the caffeine, it's something intrinsic to the
coffee itself. And for people with IBSD, which is the
diarrhea predominant IBS, this stimulation will increase urgency, loose stools,
(09:23):
and frequency. And then coffee will trigger gastric acid secretion
because it's very acidic on its own, it stimulates gall
bladder contraction and intestinal motility, which can overwhelm a hypersensitive
GI tract. Now you've probably heard of coffee enemas, which
can be very beneficial because they do those things. They
stimulate the gall bladder, they stimulate the intestines to move
(09:45):
and secrete. Not always a bad thing, but when someone
has a very sensitive gut they have that GI inflammation,
it absolutely can be an issue.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
And then it.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Depletes those not only the hydration that your body so
badly needs in the colon, but it also depletes those
minerals you know, magnesium, potassium, sodium, et cetera. Those things
that you need to maintain healthy gut balance. The next
thing I want to talk about is coffee and the
gut microbiome. And here's where it's even more interesting, because
(10:17):
there are some studies that suggest that coffee has a
prebiotic potential. It doesn't necessarily mean it's good for everyone,
though we do love a good prebiotic because it feeds
our probiotics. However, majority of people I would say, I
can never say one hundred percent, so we'll say ninety
nine point nine nine percent of people that have IBS
have some level of dysbiosis in the gut, some amount
(10:38):
of yeast overgrowth, bacterial overgrowth, parasitic overgrowth, et cetera. There's
something in the gut that is eliciting this chronic inflammation,
eliciting this chronic immune response, this chronic histamine production, et cetera.
You do not want to be on a prebiotic or
take anything that will.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Encourage the growth.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
Of organisms until you've cleaned out the bad stuff, because
you can't discriminate. You're feeding the good and the bad
if you take a prebiotic. So sure the good will increase,
but the bad increases even more rapidly because they're opportunistic.
The more you probiotics you take, the more bad we're feeding.
So probiotics are good, not good for everyone. They are
something that should be done only after you've done a
(11:17):
good pathogen cleanse and have really cleared out the organisms,
the bad organisms. And speaking of pathogen cleans, every one
of my clients, I insist that they do a good
Candida parasite type cleanse for bacteria, viruses, Candida and parasites,
get them out of the gut. That is the only
(11:37):
way through stopping this IBS flares. If you want remission
long term, you need to do a pathogen cleanse to
get rid of all of those organisms that are constantly
damaging and inflaming the gut lining. And so I have
an incredible sixty day gut reset which walks you step
by step through my full proof candida and parasite cleans,
(11:58):
my liver and kidney detop and a full gut reset
to completely lower inflammation and heal the gut. And I
will link that in the description of this podcast. It's
a sixty day gut reset, and I have a discount
code to take hundreds of dollars off the program. If
you're interested in joining, you get lifetime access. We do
live zoom meetings. We have a private Facebook community which
(12:20):
is so supportive and post tons of incredible recipes and
what they're eating to keep everybody on track. So I
would love to have you on board, So definitely check
the description of this episode. Also another thing I will say,
IBS individuals often have dysbiosis, like I mentioned, And one
thing that I think is worth mentioning there was a
(12:41):
twenty twenty one review in Frontiers and Microbiology, which is
one of my favorite journals. They noted that polyphenols and
coffee can have both antimicrobial and prebiotic effects, depending on
the dose and individual microbiome makeup. So one of my
clients mentioned this to me. She's like, oh, but coffee
can be into microbial and it's a probiotic and there's
(13:03):
antioxidants in it, and it's like, yes, yes, and yes again.
We are never saying coffee is bad. But if you
write a pros and cons list and you say coffee
is antioxidants and coffee might be slightly into microbial for
the pros and then lists the cons, Okay, it burdens
our adrenals, It fleshes minerals from the body, It acidifies
(13:24):
the body. It stimulates our motility in the gut, which
will drive IBS flares. It just regulates our immune system
and more and more and more everything I mentioned so far,
you're going to notice that the cons list is much longer.
So again, it's not that it's bad, it just might
not be right for you in this moment. And so
(13:45):
that's what I want to stress. Too much caffeine. It
can shift the microbial populations in the gut. It can
lead to an overgrowth of certain species like proteobacteria, which
are pro inflammatory and often elevated in gut disorders. So
it can have an anti microbial effect, but it might
not be killing the right organisms that we want, and
then we are left with more of the opportunistic bad ones.
(14:08):
And I touched on this earlier. I touched on our adrenals,
but I'm going to do it again because I want
to go in a bit deeper info in its own segment,
and that is coffee stress and our HPA axis. So
the HPA axis is our hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis. So
let's not forget that IBS isn't just about digestion, okay.
(14:28):
It plays a huge role in stress and in this
HPA axis, caffeine raises our cortisol, like I mentioned at
the start of the podcast, and your Bodies, which is
your body stress hormone, and in IBS individuals, the stress
response is often already dysregulated. I may posts an a
podcast as well, but on Instagram, I've done a ton
(14:49):
of reels stressing the fact that people with IBS have
some kind of chronic trauma or stress that is driving
the continual IBS. I feel like that's where it starts,
because there is so much science proving that the stress
that we experience affects our vagual nerve, which affects our gut.
So again, caffeine raises cortisol and this stress response, because
(15:13):
it's already dysregulated in IBS individuals, it just gets more
driven when our core dissol's raised from the caffeine. So
adding caffeine to the mix will lead to increased gut
permeability or leaky gut, increase inflammation, and altered motility and
put more burden on that vagual nerve. According to a
twenty eighteen article in Psycho Neuroendocrinology Journal, Caffeine induced HPA
(15:39):
access activation can heighten stress sensitivity. They've proven that especially
in people with existing gut brain imbalances, which who doesn't have.
We all have vagal nerve issues from our chronic stress,
from overworking, from toxins, and everything else. So in summary,
coffee might not be your gut's best friend. We know
(16:00):
that it stimulates the gut too aggressively for IBS individuals.
It can modulate the immune response in wighs that trigger
inflammation and drives up TH seventeen and those inflammatory cytokinds.
It affects the gut brain access and inhibits vagual outflow,
increasing our hypersensitivity. It alters the microbiome, sometimes negatively, and
it ramps up stress hormones, worsening the IBS cycle. So again,
(16:24):
does this mean that everybody with IBS needs to quit coffee?
Maybe not, But if you have had chronic bloating, urgency,
loose tools, diarrhea, cramping, gut brain symptoms like anxiety, your ability,
it might be worth taking a break from coffee and
just seeing how your body responds. You can try herbal
teas dandelion route roasted chicory root, mushroom, malixers macha, which
(16:47):
is my favorite, and give your gut a chance to
heal with the coffee specifically as well. I've had people
cut it out for a week and say I felt
no different and then reintroduce it. You you are going
to cut it out, it can't be for a week.
That's nowhere near enough time. Imagine if you had a
sensitivity to dairy and you cut it out for a
(17:07):
week and didn't really notice a huge difference because your
body was still so inflamed and it takes time for
that to come down. Would you reintroduce the dairy. Probably not.
You need to cut it out for a long time.
So coffee is the same. Again, coffee is not bad.
You might not be allergic or have any IgG antibodies
to it, but it can still drive all of those
IBS issues. So what I like to do is say
(17:29):
cut out coffee for three months. I know it can
be overwhelming, so you don't need to go cold turkey.
If you are someone who tes some kind of addiction
or dependency on coffee or caffeine, don't torture yourself and
try to cut it out cold turkey and then just
freak out and want it all the time. Right, Always
work gradually. If you drink two cups of coffee a day,
cut it down to a cup and three quarter and
(17:51):
then after you've done that for a week or two
and you feel good, go down to a cup and
a half, and then a cup, and then three quarter cup,
and then a half cup, until you're eventually able to
cut out coffee. Your body will be able to do
it if you do it gradually. If you are someone
who's not coffee dependent, you just like it, then you
probably can go cold turkey and swap it for something else,
like a macha or an herbal tea. But if you
(18:13):
give it three months even more, you will be shocked
at how much better you feel, genuinely. And then when
it comes time when you're feeling better, when it comes
time to reintroduce the coffee, go slow. Instead of a
cup every day again, you're going to do you know,
a coffee once or twice a week. We like to
do ours on the weekend, so during the week we'll
do herbal teas, machas, you know, homemade lemonades. I squeeze
(18:34):
lemon with a little bit of liquid stevia and chia
seeds and water, which is wonderful. So we'll just do
different beverages and then the weekend is where you'll get
like the cappuccino or something like that. So we're not
relying on coffee. It's not going to be doing too
much to inhibit our gut. And another thing too is
often people time. Oftentimes when you're having coffee, you're adding
(18:54):
like a creamer, or you're adding sugars. You're adding something
to it, which also can be irritating for the gut,
the dairy, the sugar, etc. So there's a lot of
factors that come into play when we're dealing with coffee.
I think it is so worth it to consider at
least cutting it out, and if not cutting out entirely,
at least reducing how much you have and see if
it makes any changes. But give it a few months.
(19:16):
It will take time to notice those changes. I hope
you learn something in today's episode.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
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Speaker 1 (19:23):
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Speaker 2 (19:29):
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Speaker 1 (19:30):
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I hope you have a beautiful day or night wherever
you are listening.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
From, and I will talk to you in the next episode. Bye.