Is it true that … coffee aids digestion? | Life and style

IIs sipping coffee after a heavy meal really good for helping you digest it? “For some people, absolutely,” says Dr Emily Leeming, a dietitian at King’s College London. “But that’s not always a good idea.”

Caffeine stimulates the gut, increasing muscle contractions, she says, which, for many people, helps food move “at a nice pace” through the digestive system before being excreted.

“If you have slightly slow digestion, this may be helpful,” she says. “But for others – if you have irritable bowel syndrome, for example – it can backfire, speeding things up too much and making digestion uncomfortable.”

The effects of coffee are not limited to intestinal motility. Regular consumption has also been linked to better overall gut health. There is growing evidence that habitual coffee drinkers tend to have a different gut microbiome – the trillions of microbes that aid digestion and nutrient absorption – with more of certain microbes associated with good health. Coffee is one of the main sources of polyphenols in our diet, a group of antioxidant compounds that these microbes feed on. It also contains a small amount of fiber.

When it comes to using coffee as a tool for gut health, timing is important, says Leeming, because our gut health is linked to the health of every system in our body.

Caffeine has a long half-life – it can circulate in the body for up to 12 hours for some people – and can disrupt sleep. And “poor sleep is linked to poor gut health,” says Leeming. Feeling sleepy after a poor night’s sleep can also trigger less healthy food choices, which can further negatively affect our gut health.

She recommends only drinking caffeinated coffee before midday and switching to decaf or herbal teas in the afternoon.