A new study has found that a specific microbe in the gut can identify coffee drinkers, with coffee-loving microbes present regardless of whether you drink caffeinated or decaffeinated coffee
A recent study has uncovered an intriguing connection between your daily brew and your well-being.
Scientists from the University of Trento, teaming up with health experts at ZOE, have pinpointed a unique marker in the gut microbiomes of coffee fans. They’ve discovered that a particular ‘coffee-loving’ bacterium flourishes in the gut when people regularly enjoy their cuppa.
What’s more, this bacterial presence is “strong and consistent” whether you’re sipping on caffeinated or decaf varieties. This new finding adds to the body of work by Professor Tim Spector and the ZOE team, delving into how our diets influence the myriad of microbes residing in our digestive systems.
Published in the prestigious journal Nature Microbiology, the research scrutinised the gut microbiome profiles of 22,000 participants, revealing that the microbe known as Lawsonibacter is significantly more prevalent in those who drink coffee compared to those who don’t. Professor Tim Spector, co-founder of ZOE, describes these coffee-devouring microbes as “very fussy eaters”, highlighting their distinctiveness as microbial companions.
The study indicates that the gut-dwelling Lawsonibacter, present in nearly all adults in coffee-drinking locales, sees a marked increase among those who consume coffee, reports Gloucestershire Live. The team behind the research believes this to be the most definitive correlation yet found between a specific consumable and an individual type of bacteria.
Professor Tim Spector, the scientific co-founder of ZOE, has made an interesting revelation: “This massive study highlights just how fussy our microbes can be – this lawsonibacter microbe hangs around in suspended animation just waiting for a cup of coffee in order to flourish.”
He expressed his excitement over these findings and the importance they hold by adding, “This gives us novel insights into how we need great diversity in plants to properly feed all our gut microbes and reap the health benefits. This is the tip of the iceberg and shows how with the massive sample size of the ZOE database we can unlock many more food microbe connections informing us how to eat more healthily.”
Meanwhile, Professor Nicola Segata, the lead on the study, shared his personal connection to the research, stating: “As a coffee lover, it has been particularly interesting to investigate its links with the gut microbiome. And because we also showed with in vitro experiments that intestinal Lawsonibacter asaccharolyticus strains grow better when brewed coffee is supplemented to the usual cultivation media, we can now also say that this is a causal link.”
He looked toward future research with optimism, concluding, “Moving forward, all of this makes us confident to be able to discover many additional direct links between foods and microbes and thus be able in the future to better inform nutritional recommendations.”
