Is caffeine good or bad 🧠for gut-brain health?
I give you permission to feel smug about your daily cup of joe
Many of us are so familiar with the daily ritual of a cup of coffee, that we almost forget that it’s the original cognitive enhancer.
Until we need it that is.
Could we call coffee an ultimate example of a gut-brain food?
It expertly demonstrates that what we eat (or drink in this case) can influence our brain function.
But, do these short-term mental boosts have long-term health consequences?
Could a regular caffeinated hit actually be a bad idea in the long-run?
Read on to find out.
What’s in coffee?
Caffeine gets the most air-time when it comes to coffee, but we can’t forget that there are plenty of other properties to coffee too.
It contains a small amount of fibre, the soluble kind that fully dissolves in water.
And it packs a powerful punch of polyphenols, a group of antioxidants.
Some of the polyphenols in coffee, called chlorogenic acids, have been shown to have cognitive benefits, and can help you feel more alert.
In fact, most of our polyphenol intake in the UK comes from coffee and tea, and not fruit and veg (!).
When it comes to your gut, yes caffeine tends to speed up the transit of food through your system - for most people this can help your digestion run smoothly (though for others it can be a problem).
Fibre and polyphenols are also prime food for your gut bacteria, helping them make special molecules for your health.
That’s likely why in some my own research, we found that coffee was most strongly related to the gut microbiome in a selection of foods and drinks.
Coffee long-term health effects
An umbrella review found that coffee consumption is more often linked to benefiting your health than causing harm, across 201 meta-analyses of observational research and 17 meta-analyses of interventional research.
Yes that’s right, 218 meta-analyses. That’s. A. Lot.
They found coffee is related to a lower risk of:
Death (so more likely to live longer)
Heart disease
Certain cancers
Neurological, metabolic, and liver conditions
However, it may be harmful for:
Pregnant women, as drinking a lot of coffee is linked to a higher risk of low birth weight, preterm birth, and pregnancy loss
Women at risk of fractures. Coffee is linked with a higher fracture risk in women but not men ( we’re not fully sure why)
Coffee and brainpower
Caffeine acts by blocking receptors in the brain that help calm you, shutting down activity and making you sleepy - temporarily sharpening your memory and alertness.
Long-term, coffee and caffeine may also help slow cognitive aging and lower your risk of dementia.
What about Alzheimer’s disease specifically?
Coffee could be protective against Alzheimer’s disease, with a study showing that those who drank coffee had a slower build of up harmful proteins in the brain, a key feature of Alzheimer’s disease.
This build-up leads to inflammation, and over time, the body becomes less able to fight off damaging molecules, which can attack brain cells and contribute to cognitive decline.
Too much of anything isn’t helpful
Some coffee, but not too much, seems to be the sweet spot.
Does caffeine or coffee make you feel rubbish? Jittery? Need to urgently dash to the loo? Then caffeine may not be for you - and that’s ok too.
Some people (I bracket myself here) are more sensitive to caffeine, and others, like those with IBS, find that caffeine makes their digestive problems worse. So you do you.
And please, no more caffeine past midday
Caffeine can stay in your system for a long time. Even 12 hours later, a quarter of it can still be swishing around your system.
So if you drink a caffeinated coffee at 11am, you could still be caffeinated by 11pm - right when you’re off to bed.
Even if you fall asleep ok, it could still affect how restful it is.
Try to have your coffee before midday and switch to decaf later in the day, as it has 97% less caffeine.
Recipes (!) - the verdict
Thank you so much to all of you who took part in last week’s poll!
It’s really helpful for me to know what kind of information you’d like.
Here are the final results:
So hold tight - the first recipe will be landing in your inbox this Sunday morning.
Why Sunday?
Two reasons…it’s a nice gap from our usual Wednesday science drop.
And also, I feel like Sundays could an easier day to soak up a new recipe, rather than during the hectic hub-bub of the week - let’s see, we can figure it out together.
And you can always let me know your thoughts in the comments, I love to hear them.
Chat soon, Emily xx
Best news I’ve read all day
I’m here for the recipes!
I enjoy coffee so much—the smell, the ritual of indulging but I don’t think it agrees with my digestive system. Also, I wasn’t practicing good eating habits when drinking coffee, like drinking on an empty stomach and sometimes skipping breakfast.