Millions of Americans start their day of a cup of joe — but is it doing more harm than good?
Two-thirds of American adults drink coffee to jump start their days, according to the National Coffee Association, consuming on average three cups a day. But research has found that having a cup before breakfast could lead to digestive pain and uncomfortable heartburn.
We naturally have acid in our stomachs that helps us to digest our food. But, coffee’s acidic content can result in the production of even more acid in the stomach, which can lead to discomfort without food to help absorb it.
“If you eat breakfast with your coffee, the stomach acid has some food to digest and will ease any adverse gastrointestinal symptoms you may face,” Baylor Scott & White Health says.
Up four cups of coffee a day is considered safe by the U.S Food and Drug Administration. However, a cup may not affect everyone in the same way.
For example, people with an inflamed esophagus may be more susceptible to the negative effects of acid in coffee, as they’re already impacted by stomach acid that backs up into the tube behind their windpipe — a condition known as acid reflux.
There’s also a genetic link to acid reflux, which is more common in older adults. As we take more medications and our muscles age, the risk of the condition and its symptoms increase. That includes searing heartburn, which is a fiery feeling that moves up the chest.
For some, this could happen regardless or not of whether they’ve eaten before drinking coffee.
“Some people find that that’s a trigger for them, so they can get some discomfort — it’s not harmful, it just doesn’t feel good,” Dr. Harmony Allison, an assistant professor of gastroenterology at Tufts Medical Center, told Health.
Acid isn’t the only thing we may need to worry about when subbing coffee for a real breakfast.
Drinking coffee can alter our hormone levels, raising levels of cortisol. Cortisol is the body’s main stress hormone, and works to reduce inflammation and blood pressure. But, elevated cortisol levels aren’t necessarily a good thing. They leave you vulnerable to life-altering disease, such as diabetes.
“When your cortisol levels stay elevated, you’re at an increased risk for weight gain, diabetes, heart problems and other health concerns,” dietitian Anthony DiMarino told the Cleveland Clinic.
Like caffeine, high levels of cortisol can lead people to feel irritable and jittery and increase your heart rate.
On an empty stomach, these effects may be enhanced. That’s especially true for coffee drinkers over the age of 65 years old, who have been shown to metabolize caffeine slower than younger adults, according to UCLA Health.
Drinking coffee without eating may also mess with our metabolism, diminishing the body’s ability to control blood sugar levels and potentially leaving us at a heightened risk for nerve and eye damage, according to research published in 2020.
“Put simply, our blood sugar control is impaired when the first thing our bodies come into contact with is coffee especially after a night of disrupted sleep,” Professor James Betts, co-director of the Centre for Nutrition, Exercise and Metabolism at the University of Bath, said.
To reduce all of these effects, you should eat something. But, some foods are better than others for counteracting acid. Slicing some bananas on oatmeal or eating some cereal with almond milk can help to fight coffee’s acidity, for example.
Drinking a darker roast coffee can also be beneficial, as it contains less acid. Some people may want to switch to matcha in the morning, which still has that jolt of caffeine but is less acidic.
At the end of the day, eating food is a quicker fix than changing your morning routine entirely.
“Having food in your stomach slows the absorption of caffeine into your bloodstream,” DiMarino said.
