It does not damage the gastric mucosa, but drinking a cup on the run in the morning is a bad habit, not so much because of the drink as because of the lack of food
In the morning I drink coffee without eating anything. a bad habit?
He answers Andrea Ghisellidirector of the 1st level Master in Food Science and Applied Dietetics, Unitelma Sapienza, Rome (VAI AL FORUM)
If coffee, as soon as you wake up, is not accompanied by some food, it is not the fault of the coffee, but rather due to lack of food. The breakfastIndeed, an essential meal and skipping it entails a series of unfavorable conditionsamong which thebody weight gain. So the habit of sip a coffee and run out of the househowever quite common, bad even considering that it is an irrelevant drink from the point of view of calories. A breakfast can begin to be called such when it brings at least 20 percent of the whole day’s calories (to understand, at least 400 kcal, better still 500, for a hypothetical requirement of two thousand kcal).
Very the belief is widespread that coffee on an empty stomach is bad because it is acidic and that you can soften the impact with a little milk or cream, but in reality it is not so. In fact, coffee cannot but be defined as acidic, but clearly less acidic than the gastric environment and less acidic, for example, than tomatoes. So the problem is not the acidity of the coffee itself: rather we must consider the fact that coffee stimulates the secretion of acidic juice through the production of gastrin. Hence the belief that coffee can harm the gastric mucosa when consumed unaccompanied by food. Self decaffeinatedthe stimulus is lower and this indicates that both caffeine and other components, especially polyphenols, are involved.
However the stomachjust because it has a very low pH (pH is the unit by which acidity is measured: the lower the number, the greater the acidity) well protected, precisely because it performs its function by exploiting the acidity that it produces itself. To protect itself, in addition to secreting acid, the stomach also produces a layer of mucus, which covers the wall insulating it and defending it from the acidic environment. It’s about that mucus film that it can be laundered under certain conditions: consumption of alcohol and some drugs, such as the common anti-inflammatories which, known, cause heartburn as a side effect and for this reason it is advisable to take them during or in conjunction with meals. But coffee does not cause damage to the mucous film.
it was then hypothesized that, when consumed alone, coffee can cause esophageal reflux since it not only stimulates the secretion of acid, but simultaneously decreases the continence of the esophageal sphincter. In the normal population for the scientific studies have excluded that coffee, fasting or after a meal, can give symptoms attributable to reflux; iin case of pre-existing reflux diseaseil consumption without food could make the complaints worse in some patientsbut in conjunction with other dietary factors, such as excess weight.
Be it taken fasting or notanyway, coffee performs a number of functions interesting on the intestinal tract. The caffeinein fact, as well as other methylxanthines, capable of reducing gallbladder calculi, stimulating the absorption of bile acids in the intestine and liver. Coffee consumption also appears to have positive effects also on the intestinal microbiotasince exerts a stimulus to the production of good bacteria at the expense of bad bacteria e could be to be Through this mechanism coffee reduces the risk of various diseasesfrom diabetes to obesity, to Parkinson’s.