New Delhi: A cup of coffee does more than just keep people awake — whether decaf or not, scientists have found that coffee can change the gut microbiome and influence a person’s mood, memory, stress, and attention.
The findings were published in Nature Communications by Irish researchers who were investigating how coffee impacts the communication between the digestive system and the brain.
“Public interest in gut health has risen hugely. The relationship between digestive and mental health is also increasingly being better understood, but the mechanisms behind coffee’s effects on this gut-brain axis have remained unclear,” said lead author John Cryan at the University College Cork, in a statement.
Research into coffee is not new. Scientists have long known that coffee affects digestion, mood, and overall health, but the reason behind these is less studied. For this study, the researchers looked at one particular communication system in the body, the microbiota-gut-brain-axis which connects the digestive tract to the brain.
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The gut-brain connection
The study analysed the patterns of 31 coffee drinkers and 31 others who did not consume coffee. The participants had to undergo psychological assessments and keep records of their diet and caffeine intake. Researchers also collected their stool and urine samples to track changes in gut microbes.
They found that bacteria such as Eggertella sp. and Cryptobacterium curtum were more numerous in the guts of coffee drinkers. The former is known to help acid secretion in the stomach and intestines while the latter helps produce bile. Both of these could aid the digestive process and kill off harmful bacteria.
One of the study’s interesting findings was that decaf and regular coffee have two different ways of impacting participants. Decaffeinated coffee helped improve learning and memory while caffeinated coffee lowered anxiety and improved attention. However, the researchers highlighted that the number of participants studied is quite small and further research is needed to better understand the impacts of coffee on the gut.
“Our findings reveal the microbiome and neurological responses to coffee, as well as their potential long-term benefits for a healthier microbiome. Coffee may modify what microbes do collectively, and what metabolites they use. As the public continues to think about dietary changes for the right digestive balance, coffee has the potential to also be harnessed as a further intervention as part of a healthy balanced diet,” Cryan added.