For some people, coffee brings on more than just a caffeine buzz. The latest video from the American Chemical Society’s Reactions series tackles its effects on our insides with science.
So, yeah. About 30 percent of humans feel the need to defecate after drinking their morning joe. If you’re one of that lucky three out of 10, you’ve probably wondered what’s up with that.
It’s tempting to attribute the effect to caffeine, since that’s the ingredient you’re going after when you slurp down a cup of coffee. But think about it: Soda doesn’t have the same effect. And studies have found that decaf coffee (which some people drink for some reason, I guess) can have a laxative effect, too.
Scientists have observed — by way of some very invasive studies — that coffee of any sort can stimulate the distal colon, which helps push waste out of the body more quickly. So the physical mechanism is well understood, but not what triggers it.