Reference Number: 268
Year: 2016
Link: Link to original paper
Health: Blood pressure | Stress
Inclusions: Coffee
Summary
It has been suggested that coffee may affect the gut-brain axis with conflicting outcomes. Moreover,there is insufficient evidence to determine whether the type or temperature of coffee consumed will have adifferent impact on the gut-brain axis. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of acute coffeeconsumption on the following: 1. self-reported GI symptoms and salivary gastrin, 2. stress indices [salivary cortisoland alpha-amylase (sAA)] and psychometric measures, and 3. blood pressure (BP), in healthy, daily coffeeconsuming individuals in non-stressful conditions.
Methods:This was a randomized, double blind, crossover clinical trial, in which 40 healthy individuals (20 men,20 women), 20–55 years of age, randomly consumed four 200 ml coffee beverages containing 160 mg caffeine(hot and cold instant coffee, cold espresso, hot filtered coffee), 1 week apart. Salivary samples and psychometricquestionnaires were collected at baseline and post-coffee consumption at 15,30, and 60 min for salivary gastrin andsAA measurements and at 60,120, and 180 min for cortisol measurements. BP was measured at beginning and end ofeach intervention.ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT02253628
Results:Coffee consumption significantly increased sAA activity (P= 0.041), with significant differences onlybetween cold instant and filter coffee at 15 and 30 min post-consumption (P< 0.05). Coffee temporarilyincreased salivary gastrin, without differences betweencoffee types. Coffee did not affect salivary cortisol orself-reported anxiety levels. Coffee consumption significantly increased BP, within the healthy physiologicallevels, in a gender specific manner at the end of the experimental periods, without differences between coffee types.
Conclusion:Acute coffee consumption in non-stressful conditions activated sAA and BP but not salivarycortisol, indicating activation of the sympathetic nervous system. Post-coffee sAA increase without aconcomitant cortisol increase may also indicate that coffee may have some anti-stress properties.
What does this mean for bakers?
I was researching the effect of coffee for a rye coffee sourdough recipe and thought that the conclusions of this study were interesting as the authors indicated that coffee activated the sympathetic nervous system, coffee may have some anti-stress properties. So enjoy a cup of coffee with your sourdough or even in your sourdough.. so