Are you wondering if coffee can be making you fart a lot?
Perhaps you are someone who drinks more than one cup of coffee, and sometimes you find yourself feeling all gassy?
There is a good reason for this, and in this article, we will explain why drinking coffee can make you feel bloated and gassy.
But before we do, let’s clear this right away:
Feeling bloated after drinking too much coffee is pretty normal.
When you drink a couple of cups of coffee, you’re likely to feel bloated, and that doesn’t mean there is anything wrong with you or your stomach.
It’s just that every coffee has a bit of acid that can irritate a stomach.
This uncomfortable feeling can generally happen to any coffee drinker, and it doesn’t mean you are unhealthy.
One of the significant reasons you’re likely to feel bloated after drinking coffee is because coffee stimulates gastric secretions and triggers colon movement.
Coffee can also aggravate acid reflux and make you experience heartburn.
Why?
Because drinking coffee relaxes the lower esophageal sphincter and increases the risk of acid reflux and heartburn.
Reasons Coffee Makes You Gassy
Some reasons you may be feeling bloated after drinking coffee:
1. Your tummy is sensitive to caffeine.
If your stomach is sensitive to caffeine, you’re likely to find it hard to finish more than two cups of coffee without feeling bloated.
Remember, when you drink more caffeine than you usually do, your tummy will begin to produce more acid than usual.
Besides, the caffeine molecule on its own is like a stomach irritant, so it means it will have a laxative effect on you and upset your stomach.
Solution: Try to drink less coffee.
If you realize that your stomach tends to be upset after downing four cups of Joe per day, then consider cutting them down to two cups.
Alternatively, you can also consider eating fruit like a banana.
It will reduce the harshness of the extra acids caused by coffee and soothe your stomach.
2. You drink too much coffee on an empty stomach.
When you drink too much coffee on an empty stomach, you’re likely to feel bloated or gassy.
Coffee has acids that are likely to upset your stomach.
Solution: If drinking coffee leaves you with a bit of discomfort, it’s always a good idea to consider not drinking coffee on an empty stomach.
Or you can only buy stomach-friendly coffee.
You may ask, what is a stomach-friendly coffee?
Well, a stomach-friendly coffee is any coffee that has reasonably low acid content.
Usually, coffee with low acid content is grown in low-altitude conditions.
3. Your coffee has gone rancid.
Feeling jittery and bloated are two signs that you may be consuming more coffee than usual.
Caffeine has a way of triggering your nervous system and causing you to shake.
Or sometimes, this may be caused by the quality of the coffee you are drinking.
Generally, coffee beans can go rancid after a couple of weeks of roasting.
You will know that your coffee has gone rancid when it tastes bitter, and you will see particles floating in the cup.
Solution: Always make sure that you drink fresh coffee.
4. Your coffee is black.
If you drink black coffee without any sugar or cream, then your cup of coffee has more acid than if you were not drinking it black.
And all that acid has a tendency to irritate your stomach, which causes bloating and farts.
Of course, adding milk may not solve the problem for people who are sensitive to dairy.
So, opt for a non-dairy creamer or milk alternative instead.
Last thoughts
Last but not least, if you have tried all the above tips and your situation doesn’t improve, you should consider changing your method of brewing coffee.
The first thing to try is using cold hot water instead of hot water and see how your stomach reacts to coffee.
However, if you feel consistent pain in your stomach, perhaps you should consult a doctor.