# Is coffee a laxative? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 15, 2000, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-coffee-a-laxative/16015 "2000-04-15T12:42:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Prose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Prose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prose)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2000, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-coffee-a-laxative/16015/21 "2000-04-15T23:56:00Z")
Thankx Cristi for the clarification 😃 * * * When he was ready, it was already far too late, to go back. There will never be another. He is lost to me, as surely as if he had died. Standing alone, I stare into the flames trying to remember what went wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Prose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Prose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prose)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2000, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-coffee-a-laxative/16015/22 "2000-04-16T00:44:00Z")
I didn’t see MissMonica7’s post: Yep, cigs act as laxitives too for me and all my friends who smoke. Esp. after a night of drinking, bad enough the liquer in the system, but the first cig in the morning after a night of drinking lets it all come out. And those of us who’ve tried quitting smoking, have had to deal with eating more fibre(I know it’s a good thing, but…) * * * When he was ready, it was already far too late, to go back. There will never be another. He is lost to me, as surely as if he had died. Standing alone, I stare into the flames trying to remember what went wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Doctordec](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cdc98d/32.png) [@Doctordec](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctordec)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2000, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-coffee-a-laxative/16015/23 "2000-04-16T02:20:00Z")
It’s the hot liquid that does it. A cup of hot water is a real morning favorite in nursing homes for that very reason. Try decaf or tea or plain hot water and I bet it has the same effect on you. A real cheap-ass, err, sorry, tight-ass, drinks hot water because of the price * * * “If it’s free, it’s for me !” ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2000, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-coffee-a-laxative/16015/24 "2000-04-16T03:39:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by Cristi: > \*\*Yes, coffee does that to me too. Dairy products affect me strangely, too. Maybe I should post this in the SuperPowers thread, but my consumption of ice cream always seems to give my cat _really_ bad gas. > \*\* Cristi, you are probably a little lactose intolerant. My husband ( who would die if he knew I was telling the folks here about his ‘tummy gurgles’) is very lactose intolerant. Gives him terrible gas and well, to put it nicely, our toilet bowls look like some one popped a shit balloon in them. When he remembers to take lactaid, there is no problem. Except the problem is, he doesn’t take the damn lactaid. This is probably more information than you really wanted to read about… ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2000, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-coffee-a-laxative/16015/25 "2000-04-16T04:14:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by MissMonica7: > \*\*could the same idea that the caffeine being a stimulant be applied to nicotine? i swear, sometimes after i smoke (and this happens to some people i know too), im going to the bathroom (not #1). does anyone know about this phenomenon? > \*\* Miss Monica, I direct your attention to _More Of the Straight Dope._ Page 372-372, to a question entitled: \*What is it about smoking a cigerette that will send me to the bathroom for a number two? \* It is too late to type out the entire response and I’ll be damned if I can find it in The Straight Dope Archive, so I’ll give you the gist of it. Straight from the Master, Cecil: Your guts are crammed with “nicotine receptors” which are part of the parasympathetic nervous system that controls your digestion , among other things. When you use tobacco, these receptors are stimulated and your innards commence to churning. If you were already pretty full, you may feel the need to visit the john. Some people have become dependant on this odd phenomenon." * * * That what does not kill me, postpones the inevitable. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2000, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-coffee-a-laxative/16015/26 "2000-04-16T15:39:00Z")
Give yourself a coffee enema! Fun. Or one with wine. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2000, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-coffee-a-laxative/16015/27 "2000-04-16T16:18:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by Doctordec: > \*\*It’s the hot liquid that does it. A cup of hot water is a real morning favorite in nursing homes for that very reason. Try decaf or tea or plain hot water and I bet it has the same effect on you. A real cheap-ass, err, sorry, tight-ass, drinks hot water because of the price > \*\* I’ve drank/drunk tea all of my life and it’s never had the effect that coffee has had on me. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2000, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-coffee-a-laxative/16015/28 "2000-04-16T16:21:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by handy: > \*_Give yourself a coffee enema! Fun. \* Or one with wine._ \*\* Great, handy, that’s just what we need around here, another drunk asshole. ( ;0 ) ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2000, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-coffee-a-laxative/16015/29 "2000-04-16T16:22:00Z")
Let’s try this one. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Persephone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@Persephone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Persephone)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2000, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-coffee-a-laxative/16015/30 "2000-04-16T16:26:00Z")
Shirley: Yea, I’m lactose intolerant. Didn’t happen until I was in my mid-20’s, though. I used to be able to eat ice cream, cheese, and drink milk with wild abandon. Then all of a sudden, BLAM! That balloon (as you so eloquently put it) started popping. Yikes! I decided to minimize the ice cream intake (which bit the big one, I must say), and start getting my calcium from other sources, like yogurt. I’ve never tried Lactaid, though. Does it really work? Could I really munch a pill, then wallow in a big ol’ bowl of Mackinac Island Fudge, like I used to? * * * Cristi, Slayer of Peeps I made my husband join a bridge club. He jumps next Tuesday. (title & sig courtesy of UncleBeer and WallyM7!) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-coffee-a-laxative/16015.md?page=1)