Coffee Following Colon Surgery Speeds Solid Food Tolerance

Study patients were given 100 mL of coffee or water 3 times a day

In a comparative study of 80 patients carried out at the University Hospital Heidelberg, Germany, patients who drank coffee after bowel surgery to remove a part of their colon experienced a quicker return to bowel movements and tolerance of solid food compared with those patients who drank water. The study findings are published in the surgical journal BJS.

“Postoperative bowel obstruction is a common problem after abdominal surgery, and the aim of this study was to test our theory that coffee would help to alleviate this” says lead author Dr Sascha Müller.

Prior to their operations, the 80 patients were randomized into coffee and water groups. The average age of the 2 groups was 61 years, and 56% of each group was male. One patient in the water arm was subsequently excluded due to a change in surgical procedure.

Of the participating patients, 56% had colonic cancer, 28% had diverticular disease, 13% had inflammatory bowel disease, and 4% had other conditions. Most patients (61%) underwent open surgery, and the remaining patients had laparoscopic surgery.

Coffee or water, in amounts of 100 mL, was given to patients 3 times a day.

Key findings were:

·      First bowel movement after surgery occurred at just over 60 hours in the coffee group and at 74 hours in the water group

·      Patients drinking coffee were able to tolerate solid food in just over 49 hours, compared with just under 56 hours for patients drinking water

·      The coffee group was able to pass wind just under 41 hours following surgery, compared with over 46 hours for the water group

·      Length of hospital stay and ill health were similar in the groups

According to Müller, 10% of the patients did not want to drink strong coffee; however, “it was well accepted by the group and no coffee-related complications were noted.”

“It is not clear how coffee stimulates the intestine and caffeine appears to have been ruled out by previous studies, which found that decaffeinated coffee, which was not used in this study, also has beneficial effects. Whatever the mechanism, it is clear that postoperative coffee consumption is a cheap and safe way to activate bowel motility after elective colonic surgery,” said Müller.

Source: Wiley.