What Happens When You Drink Coffee On An Empty Stomach? Mazel Tov!

HAPPINESS? –

Nov. 27, 2024 – The good news is that drinking coffee on an empty stomach is not inherently bad for you, and your stomach can usually adapt to protect itself. “There are a lot of benefits associated with coffee consumption when it comes to the gastrointestinal tract.”

“Coffee has a pH level of about 5 while our gastric acid boasts a pH of about 2, making the latter more acidic,” Rao noted. As a result, our stomachs should be able to handle the acid that drinking coffee causes.

However, it’s all patient-dependent, Sohi explained. “Anything you eat causes the production of gastric acid, but coffee [produces] more of it,” she said. “So if you feel bloated or are dealing with upper abdominal pain and nausea after drinking coffee on an empty stomach, you know you are having some issues with it.”

Rao echoed those sentiments. “It’s not necessarily that too much acidity is a problem, because the stomach can handle it and there is actually a lot of mucus in it that protects it,” she said. “It’s more about your esophagus not being able to withstand that kind of acid damage. Nothing dangerous is going to happen to you ― it’s not like coffee causes ulcers ― but you may just feel uncomfortable.”