# Why Does Coffee Make You Poop?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-coffee-make-you-poop/629635>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 28, 2012, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-coffee-make-you-poop/629635 "2012-07-28T01:59:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\
**Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-coffee-make-you-poop/629635/41 "2012-07-31T11:36:56Z")

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> [@benbo1](#):
>
> So people who don’t drink caffeinated coffee don’t poop? What happens, they hold it in til they explode?

Yes, in exactly the same way that if you never own a car, you will never leave your house. Stunning logic there.

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**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\
**Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-coffee-make-you-poop/629635/42 "2012-07-31T12:07:09Z")

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> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#):
>
> For heaven’s sake people… it’s the damned caffeine.

Might wanna switch to decaf.🆒

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**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\
**Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-coffee-make-you-poop/629635/43 "2012-07-31T14:51:06Z")

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> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#):
>
> Anything you drink, eat, or read first thing in the morning is likely to be followed by a bowel movement. See if you can spot the common factor in the previous sentence.

I just noticed that I often open a newspaper in the morning and read about what Mitt Romney has said and then promptly poop.

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**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\
**Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-coffee-make-you-poop/629635/44 "2012-07-31T15:14:36Z")

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> [@benbo1](#):
>
> Cecil covered the nicotine effect here. Strange, we have cells in the stomach whose purpose is to respond only to nicotine:
> 
> [Why does smoking make you want to go to the bathroom? - The Straight Dope](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/571/why-does-smoking-make-you-want-to-go-to-the-bathroom)

Yes, but not **only** nicotine. They are made to respond to acetylcholine, a common neurotransmitter, and are found in many places in the body. It was discovered that they respond strongly to nicotine, while another type of receptor doesn’t respond well but does to muscarine - the muscarinic receptor (yep, mushroom juice). Other drugs can affect it as well, like Varenicline (Chantix), and Epibatidine from the secretions of poison dart frogs.

Caffeine also affects acetylcholine, among other things. I don’t know which receptor prefers it, though.

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**Author:** ![kcor1953](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kcor1953/32/3221_2.png) [@kcor1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kcor1953)\
**Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-coffee-make-you-poop/629635/45 "2012-07-31T15:55:46Z")

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> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#):
>
> It can’t be the caffeine, because Sanka is famous for helping old people poop without keeping them awake.

This one’s my favorite, altho the typo with “dowel” was fun too.

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