WEBVTT - Why Does Coffee Make You Have To Poop?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain stuff from how stuff works. Hey, brain stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>it's Christian Seger. Did you know that of healthy young

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<v Speaker 1>people claim that drinking coffee induces a desire to defecate.

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<v Speaker 1>And you know what's crazier than that? A significantly higher

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<v Speaker 1>proportion of responders were women. Sorry, ladies, you are more

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<v Speaker 1>prone to bowel sensitivity than dudes. They think it's because

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<v Speaker 1>caffeine and high temperature increase the sensitivity of the intestines.

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<v Speaker 1>It's called motility. That's what ensures paristallysis. This is why

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<v Speaker 1>hospitals give some patients coffee after surgery. It can help

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<v Speaker 1>get their colonic muscles contracting and relaxing again. It's almost

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<v Speaker 1>like eating an entire meal. And did you know that

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<v Speaker 1>coffee also gives the colon less time to reabsorb water,

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<v Speaker 1>so it also leads to looser stools. But sometimes dairy

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<v Speaker 1>products lots of sugar or even sorbitol can also act

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<v Speaker 1>like a laxative. Coffee primarily reduces esopha geel sphincter pressure,

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<v Speaker 1>stimulating secretion from the stomach and large intestine. In fact,

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<v Speaker 1>people who drink iced coffee that's decaffeinated they report the

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<v Speaker 1>same paristalsis effect, So it can't just be caffeine or

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<v Speaker 1>water temperature, can it. Well, that's probably because hot water

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<v Speaker 1>doesn't have an effect on recto sigmoid motility. So there's

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<v Speaker 1>probably a trigger component in coffee other than caffeine. Since

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<v Speaker 1>the speed that coffees gastro colonic response happens in is

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<v Speaker 1>within four minutes after drinking it, scientists think there's an

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<v Speaker 1>indirect action involved via either the intestinal lumen or the bloodstream.

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<v Speaker 1>It could be acting on epithel receptors, possibly media it

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<v Speaker 1>did by neural mechanisms or gastro intestinal hormones like gastron

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<v Speaker 1>which increases colonic spikes and motor activity. So it's not

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<v Speaker 1>like coffee could reach your colon in four minutes anyway.

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<v Speaker 1>But colo sister kinin is another possibility. It's also a

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<v Speaker 1>putative mediator of gastro colonic responses, but there's no data

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<v Speaker 1>yet on whether coffee causes its release. It could also

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<v Speaker 1>be exorphines that bind to opiate receptors in the brain

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<v Speaker 1>and the gut wall. They're also necessary for a colonic

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<v Speaker 1>response to food. But wait a minute, I've heard for

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<v Speaker 1>years about how coffee has dehydrating effects. Because it's a diuretic,

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<v Speaker 1>shouldn't it cause constipation instead of all this other stuff? Well,

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<v Speaker 1>research shows that coffee is only diuretic when consumed in

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<v Speaker 1>large amounts, like more than six hundred milligrams a day.

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<v Speaker 1>But that is barely more than point zero two ounces.

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<v Speaker 1>So I can drink one or two cups of coffee

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<v Speaker 1>a day and there won't be any significant difference in

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<v Speaker 1>my urine output. But wait a minute, who only drinks

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<v Speaker 1>two cups of coffee a day? Check out the brainstuff

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<v Speaker 1>channel on YouTube, and for more on this and thousands

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<v Speaker 1>of other topics, visit how stuff works dot com