Why that extra cup of coffee is good for your gut
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Coffee provides many health advantages from giving us an energy boost to lowering the risk of liver disease. Here’s another item to add to its’ portfolio – it adds diversity to bacteria living in your gut.
A study published in Science analyzed stool samples from over 1100 Dutch people to determine just what exactly contributed to a more diverse and better and healthier microbiome composition in our intestinal tract. What they found were certain foods and beverages play an important role in positively contributing to the diversity of microbes we harbor inside of us. Having a wide diversity of microbes is a very good thing as the human gut microbiome relies on this diversity to produce vitamins, enzymes, and other compounds necessary to digest and metabolize food and regulate our immune system.
Essentially, the trillions of microbes occupying our gut are our friends and have a major impact on our physiology.
The study found associations between 63 dietary factors that included the amount of calories, carbohydrates, protein, fat and the intake of specific foods. This is where coffee comes into the picture.
Consuming alcohol-containing products such as red wine and also coffee and tea have a high polyphenol content which is associated with an increased diversity of bacteria. Red wine in particular has time and again shown to have anti-inflammatory properties which may reduce inflammatory bowel disease.
Another beverage positively associated with a high diversity of healthy gut bacteria was buttermilk. Buttermilk contains two species, Leuconostoc mesenteroides and Lactococcus lactis both used as starter cultures for industrial fermentation.
Foods associated with contributing to a lower diversity of gut microbes were high-fat whole milk (3.5% fat content), sugar-sweetened drinks, and other foods found in a western-style diet such as higher intake of total calories, snacking, and carbohydrates.
Red wine, coffee and tea consumption can be healthy beverages to include in our diet. Red wine, like all alcohol, should be consumed in moderation which is defined as a no more than two 5-ounce servings a day for men and no more than one 5-ounce serving a day for women.