Though you might have heard that coffee can be bad for us, study after study seems to suggest a moderate amount may be good for the gut and heart. 

Now, a study from gut health company ZOE (published in the journal Nature Microbiology) has found yet another beneficial side-effect for your bowels. 

They found that a strain of “friendly” gut bacteria called lawsonibacter asaccharolyticus (LA) is up to eight times more plentiful in the guts of regular coffee drinkers than those who didn’t sip their morning cup of Joe. 

It didn’t matter whether the coffee was caffeinated or not, it seems. 

Why was the bacteria presence so much higher in coffee drinkers?

ZOE co-founder Professor Tim Spector, these LA microbes are ‘very fussy eaters’ ― they mostly prefer to stick to one food, and that food is coffee. 

In a press release, the company said: “This is the strongest link between an individual food or drink, and a specific bacteria, ever identified.” 

The researchers think that coffee’s complex chemical makeup, which offers loads of polyphenols (the “good” part of olive oil) might be to thank here. 

The drink even offers 1.5g of fibre per cup, they add. 

Professor Tim Spector wrote, “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 added, “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.” 

Meanwhile Professor Nicola Segata, principal investigator for the study, shared in a press release that ” 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.” 

That means coffee likely created the boom in bacteria, rather than the two factors being coincidental.

What about the... other bowel benefits of coffee?

If you rely on your morning cuppa to keep you regular, you’re not alone. 

We’re not exactly sure why the common side-effect happens, but ZOE writes that it could do so by “triggering the release of digestive juices and hormones.” 

Perhaps the polyphenols present in the drink may encourage movement too, they add. 

If you’ve noticed a similar reaction after consuming really good-quality olive oil, well, that may be why...