I understand that drinking milk causes a stomachache because the body cannot break down lactose, which then enters the large intestine and draws in large amounts of water.
What about tea? If it's caffeine-free, is it definitely safe?
Does coffee irritate the stomach in the first place?
The answer is yes.
Although individual tolerance varies, coffee generally stimulates the stomach. This ultimately promotes intestinal peristalsis, resulting in an upset stomach. However, it seems that caffeine isn't the only factor. Rather, if you fixate on that, you might miss the big picture. This time, I’ll take a different approach to looking at abdominal pain.
- Coffee increases stomach acid.
- Coffee causes acid to reach the intestines and irritate them.
Coffee increases stomach acid
Components in coffee irritate the stomach and have the effect of increasing stomach acid. These are things like caffeine and chlorogenic acid. The important point #1 is that coffee, which is richer in caffeine than tea and contains numerous acids, is more likely to increase stomach acid.
In order to neutralize this excess stomach acid quickly, the stomach tries to expel its contents rapidly. This is called peristalsis (the movement that pushes stomach contents along). This can cause various undigested materials to reach the intestines. This may include various acids contained in coffee, such as quinic acid. This is point #2.
Excess stomach acid may reach the intestines without being fully neutralized, and the acids in the coffee may also reach the intestines unchanged. Usually, these would be altered in the stomach, but because they are sent along too early, they sometimes remain unchanged.
Why isn't the coffee acid neutralized?
Organs like the duodenum, which neutralize stomach acid, seem to have the ability to sense pH. However, since coffee acids are often relatively mild (pH 4–5), they seem to be judged as "not requiring neutralization." That is why they end up reaching the intestines.
Coffee causes acid to reach the intestines and irritate them
When acid reaches the intestines, the pH of the irritated intestinal tract is disrupted, which seems to trigger a movement similar to peristalsis in the intestines as well.
As a result, it causes a situation where you get a stomachache.
It's not just a simple story of coffee acid reaching the stomach; it’s that the caffeine and chlorogenic acid in coffee irritate the stomach lining, causing the stomach to send undigested acid and food into the intestines, where the unneutralized acid may then irritate the bowels.
Therefore, perhaps people with sensitive stomachs and intestines are more prone to increased stomach acid due to caffeine and the like.
So how can you become able to drink coffee?
Simply mixing in milk or soy milk might prevent it because it reduces stimulation to the stomach and makes it harder for stomach acid to be secreted, but then again, lactose or the short-chain sugars found in soy milk, like soybean oligosaccharides and raffinose, are easily fermented by gut microbes, which can produce gas in the intestines and lead to loose stools.
Are there any other components that protect the gut?
Ginger: Its pungent components seem to have a powerful soothing effect on the stomach.
Cardamom: It seems to have an indirect effect of inhibiting the action of caffeine.
That's Chai!
Perhaps chai works as a drink you can consume all day long because it softens the caffeine in black tea.
So, if we could make a "coffee version" of chai, maybe even people who can't handle coffee could drink it.
But if you're going to go to that much trouble, chai is probably fine as it is (deadpan).
That was the conclusion.
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Dear Sommelier, Uruguayan white wine