Coffee is one of the world’s favorite beverages for good reason – not only does it give energy a boost but it contains beneficial polyphenols and chlorogenic acids that support gut microbes, aid digestive health and increase Bifidobacterium and Prevotella counts in people’s feces, leading to reduced inflammation, lower blood sugar levels and an overall healthier weight. Research supports this observation.

Coffee’s caffeine may help us wake up faster and increase concentration by blocking adenosine receptors, but it has also been linked to improved cognition, reduced risk of heart disease and diabetes as well as improved gut microbe diversity, altered signaling pathways and barrier function – results which could be explained by its polyphenols and melanoidins metabolized by gut bacteria into compounds that improve bacterial diversity, alter signaling pathways and impact intestinal barrier function.

However, recent studies have demonstrated that certain varieties of coffee may negatively affect our gut microbiomes due to high levels of sugar, acidity, caffeine or other compounds present. If this is the case for you, it would be prudent to avoid flavored or sweetened varieties altogether and opt for unsweetened or low-sugar variants instead. Furthermore, choosing whole bean coffee versus filter-brewed varieties will reduce exposure to harmful toxins in your cup.

On today’s ZOE Podcast episode, we sit down with award-winning English coffee entrepreneur James Hoffmann and pioneer of the third wave movement in British coffee. James’ passion is helping individuals to balance out their gut microbiome with their love of coffee; he and Jonathan discuss both caffeine truths and myths as well as recent research linking coffee consumption with gut health.

A recent Nature article suggests that regular coffee consumption could contribute to maintaining a healthy gut microbiome. Researchers analyzed data from 22,800 individuals from both the U.S. and UK who provided detailed dietary data as well as public data from other cohorts such as fecal samples; out of 150 foods they tested, coffee had the strongest correlation to people’s gut microbiomes – something they investigated further with various in-vitro experiments to understand further why this might be happening.

Researchers discovered that when they added different amounts of coffee to cultures of Lawsonibacter asaccharolyticus bacteria, its growth increased eight-fold compared with those who hadn’t consumed much coffee at all. They also identified 115 other gut bacteria which positively correlate with coffee intake; after replicating their findings with human fecal samples they conducted two additional in-vitro experiments to validate their results.

Researchers think their findings may explain why other observational studies have linked coffee consumption with enhanced cognitive function and memory as well as reduced risks of heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Going forward, they plan to conduct more studies investigating how different kinds of coffee affect our microbiomes.