Coffee is the drink of choice for many people, even as it is a beverage, and some have grown addicted to it. It is their beer, their tea, their soda, their staying-up-to-read-all-night pill. Many of us love coffee because of the effects of the caffeine that it contains, and one thing also to know is that caffeine is not only beneficial but also addictive.
So, how about we talk about our addiction? A good one at that because its benefits outweigh its downsides and that alone is a cause to celebrate, but even at that, we need to know some information about our drink of choice and what it could give us whether good or bad. This has led to different questions from coffee fanatics and addicts like many other coffee drinkers and us.
Some of such questions include:
Does coffee raise blood sugar? (If you have diabetes, you have to read this).
How many cups of coffee should I take in a day?
How do I brew my coffee, right?
Does coffee cause gas? And this is what we would be discussing today.
It is not news that a lot of us drink it because of the effect of caffeine, such as the adrenaline pump that stops us from getting tired, the jitters that make us optimistic, the sudden energy boost that helps us complete the enormous task on our tables, and the energy boost and optimism it gives us to start our day when we take it in the morning. Its benefits are numerous, but it taking coffee can cause flatulence in some people for some reasons.
Flatulence is the way you pass outgas. It is also known as having excess gas in the intestine and stomach and how our body passes out this gas. This process is also a part of the digestive process that occurs in our body and can both be relieving, annoying, and uncomfortable at the same time. It becomes awkward when it happens more than once, and you still feel you have more coming. To stop this gas, you need to get rid of them in your stomach and the intestine.
By now, you must have been thinking about how you got this gas into your stomach in the first place. I’m not sure if you expected this, but you get gas into your stomach when you eat. It happens when you have swallowed a significant amount of air. The only way this is possible is when you eat your food very fast and when your nutrition and what you drink doesn’t digest properly in your tract. Coffee, however, doesn’t outrightly cause gas. It can sometimes cause you to have gas and abdominal bloating.
Some Things to Note about Coffee and Gas
Most people that let out gas after taking coffee are sensitive to caffeine in their system. Caffeine is a stimulant, and it also works in the stomach by stimulating your digestive tract by increasing the acid in your intestines: this, according to the University of Michigan Health System, leads to gas and abdominal bloating: this bloating can happen even if you only take decaffeinated coffee because decaffeinated coffee still has little caffeine in it. For instance, a cup of coffee would contain about 2 to 5 mg of caffeine. Compared to natural coffee, which has about 40 mg to 180 mg, it also tends to cause gas in your stomach.
Other Things That Causes Gas in Your Body
Some other things cause gas in your body, and most of them are taken together with your regular coffee. Dairy products like the milk and cream we add to our coffee can cause gas in our bodies, especially if we are lactose intolerant – we lack the enzymes that help digest sugar. Lactose is the sugar mainly used in dairy products, which is why it is called lactose intolerant. Other things that can cause gas in our body are sugar substitutes like sorbitol.
Some medical disorders like irritable bowel syndrome can be exaggerated, and symptoms increased when you have taken coffee with additives or without.
Possible Ways of Reducing Gas in Your Body
Black coffee helps in reducing this effect of coffee in your body because it is not taken with any additives – sugar and dairy products. But if you must use milk or cream, there are nondairy creams that you can use to supplement this.
Another thing to do if you are lactose intolerant is to supplement lactase to help stimulate the enzyme that would help you break down the lactose. There’s no guarantee as it could work for others and not work for you if you are lactose intolerant. You can then switch to decaffeinated coffee or reduce the amount of coffee you drink.
If you have a digestive disorder like irritable bowel syndrome, then you should stay away from coffee. Alternatively, you can switch to herbal solutions like chicory and taking supplements like activated coffee that help you to reduce the gas in your stomach.
Flatulence is just a fancy way of saying you have gas in your stomach or the way your body passes outgas. You might come across it again, so it doesn’t seem strange to you.
Know yourself and know how much coffee you take, but most importantly, practice reducing your coffee intake. Practice because lowering it won’t come easy; you need to work for it.
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