The Link Between Caffeine And Digestive Problems

Many people find that a morning cup of coffee helps get their bowels moving.

Coffee’s laxative effect has been attributed to the release of gastrin, a hormone the stomach produces that speeds up activity in the colon. What’s more, decaffeinated coffee has been shown to produce a similar response (19Trusted Source, 20Trusted Source, 21Trusted Source).

However, caffeine itself also seems to stimulate bowel movements by increasing peristalsis, the contractions that move food through your digestive tract (21Trusted Source).

Given this effect, it’s not surprising that large doses of caffeine may lead to loose stools or even diarrhea in some people.

Although for many years coffee was believed to cause stomach ulcers, a large study of more than 8,000 people didn’t find any link between the two (22Trusted Source).

On the other hand, some studies suggest that caffeinated beverages may worsen gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) in some people. This seems to be especially true of coffee (23Trusted Source, 24Trusted Source, 25Trusted Source).

In a small study, when five healthy adults drank caffeinated water, they experienced a relaxation of the muscle that keeps stomach contents from moving up into the throat — the hallmark of GERD (25Trusted Source).

Since coffee can have major effects on digestive function, you may want to cut back on the amount you drink or switch to tea if you experience any issues.

Summary: Although small
to moderate amounts of coffee can improve gut motility, larger dosages may lead
to loose stools or GERD. Reducing your coffee intake or switching to tea may be

beneficial. 

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Stress: The Silent Killer

Stress is a normal reaction that comes from our evolutionary past. The so-called "fight or flight" reaction served our ancestors well, but in our times it is triggered too often by emotions, simple problems, and situations that pose no threat. The grinding pace of modern life streams with repeated "stressors" that build up. Our body reacts to the stress as it distracts our minds and affects our health for the worse. We know when we are "stressed-out," and it's a loud and clear message — we're slowly killing ourselves.

Stress is the body and mind's reaction to new situations and problems. The body turns up the metabolism with a burst of energy and then braces to react. The mind becomes focused and vigilant. If there is danger it is a good thing; if there is no danger the result is unnecessary wear-and-tear. The damage is both psychological and physical when the body's reactions don't match the situation.

During stress the nervous system reacts with chemical releases, hormones prepare the brain for action as it draws more oxygen, muscles tighten, the heart beats harder, and breathing accelerates. The body also suppresses the immune, excretory, and reproductive systems, and it's all to prepare for action.

A return to a normal state is drawn out when stress becomes routine, for example, with job and family problems. Recurring and overlapping difficult events can easily become chronic stress. Normal function does not return easily and in time health deteriorates.

Constant stress takes its toll with headaches, sleeping problems, and back and stomach pain — if you're lucky. Over a lifetime, it can cause debilitating and life threatening disease. Existing conditions worsen as the immune system weakens. Mood disorders become more common and daily living suffers.

Anxiety, lack of motivation, anger problems, depression, and anti-social behavior can become problematic. Using drugs, alcohol, and tobacco is a poor way to cope, and they more often add to the stress. The downward spiral begins to destroy personal and work relationships, and as long-term stress progresses it physically manifests as disease. The most common result, as research shows, is high blood pressure that leads to heart disease over time.

When stress seems overwhelming or unmanageable, there are solutions. If stress is dominating your lifestyle, it's time to reach out.

Nurturing and maintaining social contacts can help you cope. Family relationships give outlet to frustrating life dilemmas, and friends can also be a source of support. Also, church and community organizations can be a path to insight and relief. Paying attention to good health helps the body's resilience, and maintaining mental hygiene makes stress episodes shorter lived.

Exercise and meditation have proven to be good stress reducers as well. Incorporating more physical activity in daily living can be as simple as taking walks. Regular meditation can settle the mind and help you remain calm in situations that usually cause a lot of stress.

Emotional maturity is about knowing yourself and how you should react to stress. We all have to take on some stress; it's important to know when to avoid a bad situation. In other words, if you see a train coming, get off the tracks! Take the first step and focus on examining what the sources of your stress are. Sometimes you need to change (or end) bad relationships or situations.

How you internalize and view personal stress has consequences, and your perception of any situation creates positive and negative emotions. Stress can be completely in the mind, but most likely it's a combination of environment and perception. Knowing what you can change and what stress is appropriate can help keep your life in your hands.

  

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How High Intake Of Caffeine Causes Insomnia

Coffee and tea are incredibly healthy beverages.

Most types contain caffeine, a substance that may boost your mood, metabolism and mental and physical performance. Studies have also shown that it’s safe for most people when consumed in low-to-moderate amounts.

However, high doses of caffeine may have unpleasant and even dangerous side effects.

Research has shown that your genes have a major influence on your tolerance to it. Some can consume much more caffeine than others without experiencing negative effects (5Trusted Source, 6Trusted Source).

What’s more, individuals who aren’t used to caffeine may experience symptoms after consuming what is typically considered a moderate dose (4Trusted Source, 7Trusted Source).

Caffeine’s ability to help people stay awake is one of its most prized qualities.

On the other hand, too much caffeine can make it difficult to get enough restorative sleep.

Studies have found that higher caffeine intake appears to increase the amount of time it takes to fall asleep. It may also decrease total sleeping time, especially in the elderly (13Trusted Source, 14Trusted Source).

By contrast, low or moderate amounts of caffeine don’t seem to affect sleep very much in people considered “good sleepers,” or even those with self-reported insomnia (15Trusted Source).

You may not realize that too much caffeine is interfering with your sleep if you underestimate the amount of caffeine you’re taking in.

Although coffee and tea are the most concentrated sources of caffeine, it is also found in soda, cocoa, energy drinks and several types of medication.

For example, an energy shot may contain up to 350 mg of caffeine, while some energy drinks provide as much as a whopping 500 mg per can (16Trusted Source).

Importantly, the amount of caffeine you can consume without affecting your sleep will depend on your genetics and other factors.

In addition, caffeine consumed later in the day may interfere with sleep because its effects can take several hours to wear off.

Research has shown that while caffeine remains in your system for an average of five hours, the time period may range from one and a half hours to nine hours, depending on the individual (17Trusted Source).

One study investigated how the timing of caffeine ingestion affects sleep. Researchers gave 12 healthy adults 400 mg of caffeine either six hours before bedtime, three hours before bedtime or immediately prior to bedtime.

Both the time it took all three groups to fall asleep and the time they spent awake at night increased significantly (18Trusted Source).

These results suggest that it’s important to pay attention to both the amount and timing of caffeine to optimize your sleep.

Summary: Caffeine can
help you stay awake during the day, but it may negatively impact your sleep
quality and quantity. Cut off your caffeine consumption by the early afternoon

to avoid sleeping problems. 

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How High Intake Of Caffeine Causes Anxiety

Coffee and tea are incredibly healthy beverages.

Most types contain caffeine, a substance that may boost your mood, metabolism and mental and physical performance. Studies have also shown that it’s safe for most people when consumed in low-to-moderate amounts.

However, high doses of caffeine may have unpleasant and even dangerous side effects.

Research has shown that your genes have a major influence on your tolerance to it. Some can consume much more caffeine than others without experiencing negative effects (5Trusted Source, 6Trusted Source).

What’s more, individuals who aren’t used to caffeine may experience symptoms after consuming what is typically considered a moderate dose (4Trusted Source, 7Trusted Source).

Caffeine is known to increase alertness.

It works by blocking the effects of adenosine, a brain chemical that makes you feel tired. At the same time, it triggers the release of adrenaline, the “fight-or-flight” hormone associated with increased energy (8Trusted Source).

However, at higher doses, these effects may become more pronounced, leading to anxiety and nervousness.

In fact, caffeine-induced anxiety disorder is one of four caffeine-related syndromes listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), which is published by the American Psychiatric Association.

Extremely high daily intakes of 1,000 mg or more per day have been reported to cause nervousness, jitteriness and similar symptoms in most people, whereas even a moderate intake may lead to similar effects in caffeine-sensitive individuals (9, 10Trusted Source).

Additionally, modest doses have been shown to cause rapid breathing and increase stress levels when consumed in one sitting (11Trusted Source, 12Trusted Source).

One study in 25 healthy men found that those who ingested approximately 300 mg of caffeine experienced more than double the stress of those who took a placebo.

Interestingly, stress levels were similar between regular and less frequent caffeine consumers, suggesting the compound may have the same effect on stress levels regardless of whether you drink it habitually (12Trusted Source).

Nevertheless, these results are preliminary.

Coffee’s caffeine content is highly variable. For reference, a large (“grande”) coffee at Starbucks contains about 330 mg of caffeine.

If you notice that you often feel nervous or jittery, it might be a good idea to look at your caffeine intake and cut it back.

Summary: Although
low-to-moderate doses of caffeine can increase alertness, larger amounts may
lead to anxiety or edginess. Monitor your own response in order to determine

how much you can tolerate. 

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How Family History Affects Colon Cancer Risk

Just as you inherited your parent’s physical features, you may have inherited their susceptibility for colorectal cancer.

If this type of cancer runs in your family, you've probably heard your parents or other relatives talk about it. You may have learned that family members — either your immediate family (first degree) or your aunts, uncles and cousins (second degree) — have had polyps. Or, you know that certain cancers, such as breast, ovarian and uterine, seem to run in your family.

The fact that certain family members have had some form of cancer means that you may have inherited that risk as well. If possible, find out who in your family was affected, and how. Sharing that medical history with your doctor may go a long way in helping to prevent cancer, determine your screening frequency for it, and decide on the best possible treatment if you do get the disease.

Colorectal cancer specialists have identified high-risk populations to help families decide when screening is needed. Primary characteristics include:

• Patients with one first-degree relative who was diagnosed with colorectal cancer or advanced adenoma (polyps) when younger than age 60
• Patients with two first-degree relatives diagnosed with colorectal cancer or advanced adenoma at any age
• Patients with one first-degree relative diagnosed with colorectal cancer or advanced adenoma at age 60 or older
• Patients with two or more second-degree relatives who were diagnosed with advanced adenoma

In 20 to 30 percent of colorectal cancer cases, a cancer gene begins with the patient, so family history may not be helpful. Some people don't have large families so they don't have a family history to consult. But in 70 to 80 percent of colorectal cancer cases, family history is extremely important.

Experts estimate that between 10 and 15 percent of all familial colorectal cancers developed from an inherited risk. These are the genetic disorders commonly tested in families with a history of colorectal or other cancers. Because these are general descriptions, talk with your doctor about specific characteristics and testing.

Lynch syndrome

One of the most common disorders that occurs in families is Lynch syndrome. It can cause colon cancer to occur in people before age 50 and can be passed on to children.

People with Lynch syndrome — among the most common hereditary cancer syndromes — may need frequent colonoscopies, as often as every one to two years, starting at age 35. It's estimated that as many as one in every 300 individuals may be carriers of an alteration in a gene associated with Lynch syndrome.

Familial adenomatous polyposis

This inherited disorder is known to run in families and may affect as many as half of the members. Patients with familial adenomatous polyposis develop hundreds and even thousands of polyps in the colon. It often is detected in people in their teens and early 20s.

Peutz-Jeghers syndrome

This disorder is characterized by noncancerous polyps that can increase the risk of developing certain types of cancer. People with Peutz-Jeghers syndrome have pigmentation defects that appear as small, dark-colored spots on the mouth, hands and feet.

Ashkenazi Jewish descent

Jewish people who are Ashkenazi, or of eastern European decent, have a higher risk for colorectal cancer than other ethnic groups.

In the past, colorectal cancer specialists looked primarily at the patient and the patient's family history as powerful indicators of colorectal cancer risk. Today, specialists are identifying genes that may increase the risk of the disease in families.

That research is making a difference. Researchers are studying whole panels of genes. When they find a suspicious gene in a patient, the patient's family is tested as well.

If you have the slightest concern that you might have inherited a family gene, get screened. 

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New Study Establishes Strong Link Between Antibiotics Use And Colon Cancer Risk

Taking antibiotic drugs may raise the risk of developing colon cancer five to 10 years down the line, according to a new study of more than 40,000 cancer cases in Sweden. 

Past studies hinted that antibiotics can cause lasting changes to the gut microbiome — the community of microbes that live in the digestive tract — and that these changes may be linked to a heightened risk of colon cancer. Now, in the largest epidemiological study to ever explore this link, researchers report that the heightened risk may be specific to cancers in the so-called proximal colon, the part of the colon that connects to the small intestine and starts in the lower-right abdomen. 

"It's very clear, when we looked at the data, that it's very confined to the proximal, or right-sided colon," senior author Sophia Harlid, a cancer researcher at Umeå University in Sweden, told Live Science. And in fact, the antibiotic-related cancer risk was greatest at the start of the proximal colon, called the "ascending colon," which extends from the lower- to upper-right abdomen.

People who took antibiotics for more than six months bore the highest cancer risk, according to the research, published Wednesday (Sept. 1) in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Compared with people who'd taken no antibiotics, these individuals had a 17% higher chance of developing cancer in the ascending colon. 

That said, even short courses of antibiotics carried an associated cancer risk, albeit a far smaller one than what was seen with the months-long regimens, the team found. This data may provide yet another reason to rein in the overprescription of antibiotics, besides preventing the emergence of antibiotic-resistant superbugs, Harlid said. 

These new findings echo the results of a similar, but smaller, U.K.-based study, published in 2019 in the journal Gut. The Swedish study "came right in line with other data that was emerging … which actually improves confidence that there's an association," Dr. Cynthia Sears, senior author of the U.K. study, who was not involved in the newest research, told Live Science.

It's important to note that these studies only identify a correlation; they don't show that antibiotics directly cause the subsequent colon cancer, said Sears, who is a professor of medicine and oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and a professor of molecular microbiology and immunology at the Bloomberg School of Public Health. That said, there are theories as to how the drugs may make the proximal gut more vulnerable to cancer growth.

"Our thinking is that you're disrupting the balance of the microbiota," and this may allow infectious bugs like Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae to gain prominence where they'd usually be outcompeted by other microbes, Sears said. This in turn may ramp up inflammation in the colon, generating reactive chemicals that could damage DNA and generate tumors. In addition, the inner lining of the intestine may then become more permeable, allowing bacteria to infiltrate the colon walls and join together in slimy structures called biofilms. Studies suggest that almost all proximal colon cancers — nearly 90% — are associated with such biofilms, Sears said.

The proximal colon may be particularly vulnerable to these changes because it endures the greatest spillover of antibiotic drugs from the small intestine, Sears said. Then, as the drugs move through the colon, their molecules steadily break down. That said, these potential mechanisms still need to be studied further, but for now, the new study strengthens the case that some link exists between antibiotics and colon cancer, she said.

The new study used data from the Swedish Colorectal Cancer Registry to identify tens of thousands of colorectal cancer patients who had been diagnosed between 2010 and 2016. Data from the Swedish Prescribed Drug Register allowed the team to track these patients' antibiotic use between 2005 to 2016, to see if any patterns emerged. They also compared the cancer patients to more than 200,000 cancer-free people from the wider Swedish population.

While the team uncovered a clear link between antibiotics use and cancer in the ascending colon, they found no such link to cancers in any part of the distal colon or rectum.  

The team wanted to pin down why the drugs might drive cancer in the proximal colon. To do so, they searched the prescribed drug register for methenamine hippurate — a medicine that helps prevent urinary tract infections in people who get them frequently. 

Although it has antibacterial effects, the drug doesn't alter the gut microbiome because it can only be activated by the high acidity of urine, Harlid explained. So based on the theory that antibiotics raise the risk of cancer by messing with gut bugs, methenamine hippurate should not be linked to the same increased risk. And in sifting through all their data, the team found that this was the case: only antibiotics that affect gut bugs, not methenamine hippurate, showed a link to colon cancer.

These results further support the antibiotics-cancer link, but the study still has its limitations. For instance, the datasets didn't include any information on individuals' diets, smoking habits or alcohol use, all of which can also raise the risk of colon cancer. Similarly, the authors could not determine which patients might be taking antibiotics for an underlying condition like inflammatory bowel disease, also linked to colon cancer. In addition, the Swedish Prescribed Drug Register provides information on drug prescriptions, but cannot reflect whether individuals finished their complete course of antibiotics, for instance. 

But because the study is so large, it "definitely hints in the right direction," Harlid said. 

In a few years time, the team hopes to perform an even larger follow-up study, when more data has accumulated, and they're interested in seeing whether specific colon cancer subtypes show a stronger association with antibiotics. Cancers can be split into subtypes based on the behavior of their tumor cells and what genetic mutations they carry, and these subtle differences affect where the cancer grows and how it responds to treatments, according to the National Cancer Institute.

Meanwhile, Sears and her colleagues are currently collecting data on the microbiomes of individuals with early-stage colon cancer, to pinpoint specific gut bugs that are unusually depleted or overgrown. As scientists continue to study why microbes make a difference in colon cancer, for now, doctors should be selective in when and how they prescribe antibiotics, Sears said. 

  

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