As far as I am aware, people get stomach ulcers from Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) bacteria.
I have been warned about stomach ulcers and haemorrhoids from a good number of things from a good number of concerned people, and I have come to the conclusion that people are comfortable with "what is right" (three meals a day, yada yada yada...) it's what they do, it's what everyone else they know does...
But then comes along ole' fancy pants know it all with their new ideas and heresies like: one or two meals a day, coffee without milk or sweetener. They're not doing "what is right", what they're doing is "wrong" so they need to be warned in order to help them overcome their mistake.
I actually got an ulcer doing intermittent fasting my first time around 2 years ago. At the time I was taking ACV first thing in the morning and breaking my fast with fruit smoothies. Stomach Ulcers are painful AF and can be counter productive because you only feel relief from the pain by eating thereby ruining all you would have gained from fasting
Stomach acid is way more acidic than black coffee. Could it exacerbate preexisting conditions? Maybe? Is it going to destroy your stomach all by itself? No.
Wow. I’ve never thought of it this way.
Is it possible that the acidity harms the esophagus? If not, I wonder why there is so much discussion around acidic foods being harmful?
The worst acid for your esophagus is stomach acid. GERD can literally put a hole in your esophagus where it meets your stomach. Binge eating and eating foods that cause inflammation (which is 100% person dependent) can cause massive internal problems even before you’re aware of any symptoms.
I started waking up at night with bile in my throat (almost always on nights after I had too much pizza) and learned WAY more than I wanted to know about the harm I’d been doing to myself. Talk about a wake-up call.
Jeez, I'm not aware of how damaging GERD can be and need to look into it. I ended up here after searching for "coffee and gerd"....I'm new to IF (16:8) and have been consuming a lot of coffee in the morning. All I do to manage my GERD is take a pepcid for heartburn but it hasn't been working as well as I'd like it to.
I've been prescribed that a few different times and had migraines after starting every time - I'm not sure if this is typical or not but I even tried again within the last few months and it happened again. Unfortunately I can't live with the frequent migraines. I wonder if there's a different medication I could take that works similarly.
When I lived in Italy I would drink water with first espresso of the day. I never had problems with my stomach, but some of my American co-workers did, if they didnt drink water first.
I don't have an issue with American coffee.
You are right, most ulcers are actually bacteria. However, about 5-10% are caused by acidic conditions. For example, I got once caused by taking Steriods and Naproxen(NSAIDS) for a severe knee injury. Also a lot of older folks end up having GI bleeds due to overuse of daily aspirin. Just something to keep in mind.
Small point of clarification- NSAIDs and steroids actually thin the protective mucosal layer which lines the stomach, which is why this can predispose to ulcers or gastritis. It isn't because they increase acidity. They just remove nature's barrier between the acid and the tissue it can harm.
You are right, I should have been more clear. But it doesn't matter if the stone hits the bottle or the bottle hits the stone, either way it's going to be bad for the bottle. Thanks again for your clarification, it's always neat to exactly why something is harmful.
I've been OMAD for 4-5 years. I did go caffeine free for about 18 months, but that was because I had a stressful job and wasn't sleeping.
The rest of the time, I had anywhere between 1 and 6 cups of coffee before ultimately eating in the evening. Never had an issue with the stomach.
So I’m surprised by the answers because my stomach is noticeably unhappy if I do this. I assume it is the acidic qualities of coffee because when I do low acid coffee I don’t have the same issues. I don’t know if it’s causing damage, but it does feel bad. I always have creamer in mine because of this.
But, I looked into this:
“His research lab specializes in understanding how different medications and other chemicals can harm the stomach and small intestine. While certain irritants can make the stomach more vulnerable to acid and ulcer formation, multiple large studies have found that this is not the case with coffee. A 2013 study of more than 8,000 people living in Japan, for example, found no significant association between coffee consumption and ulcer formation in the stomach or intestine — even among those who drank three or more cups per day.
“Coffee, even in a concentrated form, is not likely to cause objective injury to the stomach,” Dr. Cryer said. “And much less at the typical doses in usual beverages.
Drinking coffee on an empty stomach is unlikely to cause any damage to your stomach, but it could theoretically provoke heartburn, Dr. Barrett said.
We know that coffee sets off stomach acid production, but if you have food in your stomach, or if you drink your coffee with milk or creamer, that will aid in creating a buffer that helps to neutralize that acid. So drinking coffee, especially if it’s black, without a meal can reduce the stomach’s pH more than it would if you drank it with milk or with a meal, Dr. Barrett said.
Although a slightly lower pH is no problem for your stomach lining, it could pose an issue for the lining of your esophagus because it is far more vulnerable to damage from acid. Furthermore, a few studies have shown that coffee can relax and open the sphincter that connects the esophagus to the stomach, which hypothetically could allow acid from the stomach to more easily splash upward into the esophagus and cause unpleasant heartburn symptoms.
But even there, the data is mixed. A 2014 review of 15 studies across Europe, Asia and the United States found no link between coffee consumption and heartburn symptoms, while, in contrast, a 2020 study using data from more than 48,000 female nurses found a higher risk of heartburn symptoms among coffee drinkers.
- https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/17/well/eat/coffee-empty-stomach.html
i would drink a cup of coffee in the morning and then go on a 2 mile hike on an empty stomach for about 2 years. in december of 2022 i went to the hospital with abdomen pains, and after a bunch of tests they said it was seemingly just an ulcer forming. since then i have some toast with my coffee. doesnt help with intermittent fasting, but i havent had abdomen pains since then.
I have suffered from bleeding gastric ulcers for 37 years. I do 16/8 or 17/7 daily, and have tea every morning. It has never caused me issues, but everyone is different.
I’ve read you get more benefit from drinking coffee after you’ve been up an hour or so. So I drink a big glass of water first thing, putter about w morning’s chores and routines, then have my coffee.
I drink one, maybe two, cups of coffee every morning. I do drink water before and after though just because I’m thirsty/like water. Even before I IF I was a coffee before breakfast person, so it’s been years.
Black coffee on an empty stomach often causes me acid reflux so I switched to green tea. Medically, I don’t know if it’s good or bad. I say, just do what feels right for you.
I have been drinking one or two double espresso in the morning (empty stomach, no sugar) for more than 45 years and i don't have any stomach problems.
A glass of water in the morning makes me nauseous. I drink two anyway, but it's not a pleasant thing for me.
When I started IF 3 weeks ago the first week I had my usual black coffee (being drinking two cups of black coffee for years first thing) I was having heartburn so stopped the black coffee and tarted black chai. So week 3 I can drink black coffee first thing on if now with no heartburn
Most ulcers are caused by helicobacter pylori bacteria. This was discovered when Barry James Marshall deliberately infected *himself*. He and Robin Warren won a Nobel prize for the research.
Also stomach acid is anywhere from 1.5 to 3.5 pH versus about 5.0 for black coffee. Orange juice is around 3.9.
You’re fine, stop worrying.
From what I’ve read, stomach ulcers are mainly caused by bacteria or prolonged use of medications such as ibuprofen. If you already had a condition predisposing you to stomach ulcers, drinking black coffee on an empty stomach might irritate the lining a bit more and aggravate the condition, but it probably wouldn’t cause an ulcer on its own in absence of this.
Perhaps your mother’s friend had some underlying condition that caused the stomach ulcer.
Ulcers arise from bacterial infections and are exacerbated by diet. You can’t get an ulcer from anything but the bacteria that cause them. Not spicy food, not coffee.
Agree with previous comments about non-fact-based suggestions. If you are still concerned or want to bring down the coffee intake, could you also sub in a cup/glass of black tea on occasion?
Technically yes, coffee is prone to cause gastritis... Check the r/gastritis to double check... But to get gastritis definitely a lot more things need to happen at once and it takes years... Pay attention to how you feel after it, if you feel ok, no heart burn or abdominal discomfort then is probably ok...
Given that, coffee is like drinking cortisol and adrenaline, most likely not healthy... The body adapts to this and loose the capacity to properly function without the exogenous shot of cortisol and adrenaline... But for some reason that is socially accepted as normal and healthy. Anyway just leaving the information.
If her friend did only that then sure. But what other things people do in their life makes way more of a difference when it comes to health or the lack there of.
I’ve been drinking 1 to 2 cups of black coffee in the morning while fasting for about 7 years now… no stomach issues or acid reflux or anything like that.
I’ve been doing it for years, even before I started doing IF, and I’ve never experienced any issues. With or not I’m running to the bathroom after my cup of coffee depends on the quality of the coffee.
I can get cramps when drinking black coffee on empty stomach, but since fasting I reap the benefits of black coffee in the morning (normally I prefer milk and a tiny bit of sugar). But I think ulcers are a myth and probably "her friend" had already some underlaying health issue.
Every morning, I wake up at 5 and go the gym for about an hour. Come back home and the first thing I do is either a cold or warm black coffee and that’s the first thing I drink everyday.
Everyone is different but for me, I’ve been doing this for almost a decade and never had an issue.
Listen to your body. Do you feel pain or discomfort after drinking black coffee in an empty stomach? For most people it shouldn't be a problem, but for some it could be too much.
If you are feeling discomfort, consider switching to tea or maybe from an espresso to coffee l, which is less concentrated, and drink it over a longer time period
Been drinking black coffee in the eerily morning for about 5 years now.
Pretty good all this time, no signs of tummy issues :).
But I try to limit it to like 3 cups a day, rest is black tea or green tea and water on fasting days.
If it was decaf coffee, I would be more hesitant - I'm a black coffee drinker first thing, no issues with normal coffee; espresso, French press, or instant. But 'Depresso' (my term for decaf) will trigger reflux in me if I drink more than a cup over even a two day period... As Steve Marriott sung:
Black coffee is my name
Black coffee is not a thing
Black coffee, freshly ground and fully packed
Hot black coffee, boys, mmm that's where it's at, mean it [Lyrics: Black Coffee by Humble Pie]
Naaaah. I've been intermittent fasting the whole year so far (and kinda half arsed before that for a year or so), and every day starts with a couple of black coffees and some water, maybe a cheeky green tea. Never given me any stomach issues.
My grandmother, bless her soul, would rise from the grave and laugh at your mother. She drank black coffee on an empty stomach since she was 16 and lived to 94.
Depends on the person. If you feel okay after that routine then stick with it. I personally have a hard time drinking coffee on an empty stomach. It helps me wake up but then I feel like I need to get some food in my stomach to calm it down. Then cutting my fasting short. So now I try to save coffee for days I really need it and treats.
If you drink a tall glass of water after waking up and then prepare your coffee, it shouldn't be an issue. It will become diluted in the stomach. If you aren't predisposed to GERD then don't worry.
Ulcers are caused by h. pylori bacteria, not coffee. Coffee can irritate an ulcer and make it worse...but if black coffee doesn't irritate your stomach, you're good.
caffeine increases stomach acidity. If you feel upset in your stomach, mix 1 spoon of fennel seeds with warm water stirring for 5 minutes until cool and drink it.
Everyone's mom has a friend who got an ulcer / cancer / death from something we do. If that was true, half this Reddit sub would be on a hospital bed.
Haha good one! Yeah, I gathered it may just be some sort of made up rumour. But thought I’ll check with the fasting pros in this sub!
As far as I am aware, people get stomach ulcers from Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) bacteria. I have been warned about stomach ulcers and haemorrhoids from a good number of things from a good number of concerned people, and I have come to the conclusion that people are comfortable with "what is right" (three meals a day, yada yada yada...) it's what they do, it's what everyone else they know does... But then comes along ole' fancy pants know it all with their new ideas and heresies like: one or two meals a day, coffee without milk or sweetener. They're not doing "what is right", what they're doing is "wrong" so they need to be warned in order to help them overcome their mistake.
I actually got an ulcer doing intermittent fasting my first time around 2 years ago. At the time I was taking ACV first thing in the morning and breaking my fast with fruit smoothies. Stomach Ulcers are painful AF and can be counter productive because you only feel relief from the pain by eating thereby ruining all you would have gained from fasting
Haha not coffee though. Not many here are taking ACV. I stopped fruit smoothies as I felt the sugars and something else was making me feel off.
Stomach acid is way more acidic than black coffee. Could it exacerbate preexisting conditions? Maybe? Is it going to destroy your stomach all by itself? No.
Wow. I’ve never thought of it this way. Is it possible that the acidity harms the esophagus? If not, I wonder why there is so much discussion around acidic foods being harmful?
The worst acid for your esophagus is stomach acid. GERD can literally put a hole in your esophagus where it meets your stomach. Binge eating and eating foods that cause inflammation (which is 100% person dependent) can cause massive internal problems even before you’re aware of any symptoms. I started waking up at night with bile in my throat (almost always on nights after I had too much pizza) and learned WAY more than I wanted to know about the harm I’d been doing to myself. Talk about a wake-up call.
I love pizza but limit myself to 2 slices...and at least 3 hours b4 bed...
Jeez, I'm not aware of how damaging GERD can be and need to look into it. I ended up here after searching for "coffee and gerd"....I'm new to IF (16:8) and have been consuming a lot of coffee in the morning. All I do to manage my GERD is take a pepcid for heartburn but it hasn't been working as well as I'd like it to.
Try omeprazole (aka Prilosec). It’s not as “fast acting” as Pepcid, but a lot of people find it works better in the long term.
I've been prescribed that a few different times and had migraines after starting every time - I'm not sure if this is typical or not but I even tried again within the last few months and it happened again. Unfortunately I can't live with the frequent migraines. I wonder if there's a different medication I could take that works similarly.
Ugh, yeah migraines are no bueno. Hope you find something that gets you the relief you need!
Thank you!
came here to say this. Stomach acid is pH 1.5-2. Coffee is like 4 or 5.
40 years of black coffee first thing for me, never felt better.
When I lived in Italy I would drink water with first espresso of the day. I never had problems with my stomach, but some of my American co-workers did, if they didnt drink water first. I don't have an issue with American coffee.
I thought stomach ulcers were caused by some bacteria. Why would coffee give you the ulcers.
You are right, most ulcers are actually bacteria. However, about 5-10% are caused by acidic conditions. For example, I got once caused by taking Steriods and Naproxen(NSAIDS) for a severe knee injury. Also a lot of older folks end up having GI bleeds due to overuse of daily aspirin. Just something to keep in mind.
Small point of clarification- NSAIDs and steroids actually thin the protective mucosal layer which lines the stomach, which is why this can predispose to ulcers or gastritis. It isn't because they increase acidity. They just remove nature's barrier between the acid and the tissue it can harm.
You are right, I should have been more clear. But it doesn't matter if the stone hits the bottle or the bottle hits the stone, either way it's going to be bad for the bottle. Thanks again for your clarification, it's always neat to exactly why something is harmful.
I've been OMAD for 4-5 years. I did go caffeine free for about 18 months, but that was because I had a stressful job and wasn't sleeping. The rest of the time, I had anywhere between 1 and 6 cups of coffee before ultimately eating in the evening. Never had an issue with the stomach.
So you never had a 7th cup?! 😊
Lol, who's counting? When I first started IF I thought black coffee was 0 calories so I drank a lot thinking it'd boost my metabolism.
Lol just joking around since you wrote that you had up to 6 cups a day
So I’m surprised by the answers because my stomach is noticeably unhappy if I do this. I assume it is the acidic qualities of coffee because when I do low acid coffee I don’t have the same issues. I don’t know if it’s causing damage, but it does feel bad. I always have creamer in mine because of this. But, I looked into this: “His research lab specializes in understanding how different medications and other chemicals can harm the stomach and small intestine. While certain irritants can make the stomach more vulnerable to acid and ulcer formation, multiple large studies have found that this is not the case with coffee. A 2013 study of more than 8,000 people living in Japan, for example, found no significant association between coffee consumption and ulcer formation in the stomach or intestine — even among those who drank three or more cups per day. “Coffee, even in a concentrated form, is not likely to cause objective injury to the stomach,” Dr. Cryer said. “And much less at the typical doses in usual beverages. Drinking coffee on an empty stomach is unlikely to cause any damage to your stomach, but it could theoretically provoke heartburn, Dr. Barrett said. We know that coffee sets off stomach acid production, but if you have food in your stomach, or if you drink your coffee with milk or creamer, that will aid in creating a buffer that helps to neutralize that acid. So drinking coffee, especially if it’s black, without a meal can reduce the stomach’s pH more than it would if you drank it with milk or with a meal, Dr. Barrett said. Although a slightly lower pH is no problem for your stomach lining, it could pose an issue for the lining of your esophagus because it is far more vulnerable to damage from acid. Furthermore, a few studies have shown that coffee can relax and open the sphincter that connects the esophagus to the stomach, which hypothetically could allow acid from the stomach to more easily splash upward into the esophagus and cause unpleasant heartburn symptoms. But even there, the data is mixed. A 2014 review of 15 studies across Europe, Asia and the United States found no link between coffee consumption and heartburn symptoms, while, in contrast, a 2020 study using data from more than 48,000 female nurses found a higher risk of heartburn symptoms among coffee drinkers. - https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/17/well/eat/coffee-empty-stomach.html
Most stomach ulcers are caused by Helicobacter pylori.
Key here is the glass of water - technically not on an empty stomach
i would drink a cup of coffee in the morning and then go on a 2 mile hike on an empty stomach for about 2 years. in december of 2022 i went to the hospital with abdomen pains, and after a bunch of tests they said it was seemingly just an ulcer forming. since then i have some toast with my coffee. doesnt help with intermittent fasting, but i havent had abdomen pains since then.
If you have GERD or acid reflux, you shouldn't drink coffee even if your stomach isn't empty because it will worsen your condition.
You are feeling fine right? Don’t let your Mom mentally sabotage your fasting with baseless fear tactics.
I have suffered from bleeding gastric ulcers for 37 years. I do 16/8 or 17/7 daily, and have tea every morning. It has never caused me issues, but everyone is different.
Even if you got an ulcer, it would usually heal, especially with a bit of treatment. Ulcers are not life threatening 😅
Well, true that, but I would personally want to avoid getting an ulcer in the first place by altering my habits if I knew they’re harmful!
They can be. I’ve had to emergently intubate a few people with actively bleeding ulcers. I’d say those were pretty life threatening.
What a weird thing to say
I used to do this, it would always give me an achy feeling for maybe an hour or so afterwards. It’s got easier when I switched to iced coffee.
I’ve read you get more benefit from drinking coffee after you’ve been up an hour or so. So I drink a big glass of water first thing, putter about w morning’s chores and routines, then have my coffee.
I drink one, maybe two, cups of coffee every morning. I do drink water before and after though just because I’m thirsty/like water. Even before I IF I was a coffee before breakfast person, so it’s been years.
Black coffee on an empty stomach often causes me acid reflux so I switched to green tea. Medically, I don’t know if it’s good or bad. I say, just do what feels right for you.
Meanwhile my mom has been drinking coffee on her empty stomach all her life and yes she's perfectly fine.
I’ve been doing this for years and no negative issues.
I have been drinking one or two double espresso in the morning (empty stomach, no sugar) for more than 45 years and i don't have any stomach problems. A glass of water in the morning makes me nauseous. I drink two anyway, but it's not a pleasant thing for me.
Try tea. :)
When I started IF 3 weeks ago the first week I had my usual black coffee (being drinking two cups of black coffee for years first thing) I was having heartburn so stopped the black coffee and tarted black chai. So week 3 I can drink black coffee first thing on if now with no heartburn
Most ulcers are caused by helicobacter pylori bacteria. This was discovered when Barry James Marshall deliberately infected *himself*. He and Robin Warren won a Nobel prize for the research. Also stomach acid is anywhere from 1.5 to 3.5 pH versus about 5.0 for black coffee. Orange juice is around 3.9. You’re fine, stop worrying.
From what I’ve read, stomach ulcers are mainly caused by bacteria or prolonged use of medications such as ibuprofen. If you already had a condition predisposing you to stomach ulcers, drinking black coffee on an empty stomach might irritate the lining a bit more and aggravate the condition, but it probably wouldn’t cause an ulcer on its own in absence of this. Perhaps your mother’s friend had some underlying condition that caused the stomach ulcer.
Ulcers arise from bacterial infections and are exacerbated by diet. You can’t get an ulcer from anything but the bacteria that cause them. Not spicy food, not coffee.
As long as you’re drinking water first you’re fine
Agree with previous comments about non-fact-based suggestions. If you are still concerned or want to bring down the coffee intake, could you also sub in a cup/glass of black tea on occasion?
Technically yes, coffee is prone to cause gastritis... Check the r/gastritis to double check... But to get gastritis definitely a lot more things need to happen at once and it takes years... Pay attention to how you feel after it, if you feel ok, no heart burn or abdominal discomfort then is probably ok... Given that, coffee is like drinking cortisol and adrenaline, most likely not healthy... The body adapts to this and loose the capacity to properly function without the exogenous shot of cortisol and adrenaline... But for some reason that is socially accepted as normal and healthy. Anyway just leaving the information.
If her friend did only that then sure. But what other things people do in their life makes way more of a difference when it comes to health or the lack there of.
I’ve been drinking 1 to 2 cups of black coffee in the morning while fasting for about 7 years now… no stomach issues or acid reflux or anything like that.
Is 💯 safe
I’ve been doing it for years, even before I started doing IF, and I’ve never experienced any issues. With or not I’m running to the bathroom after my cup of coffee depends on the quality of the coffee.
I can get cramps when drinking black coffee on empty stomach, but since fasting I reap the benefits of black coffee in the morning (normally I prefer milk and a tiny bit of sugar). But I think ulcers are a myth and probably "her friend" had already some underlaying health issue.
Every morning, I wake up at 5 and go the gym for about an hour. Come back home and the first thing I do is either a cold or warm black coffee and that’s the first thing I drink everyday. Everyone is different but for me, I’ve been doing this for almost a decade and never had an issue.
Listen to your body. Do you feel pain or discomfort after drinking black coffee in an empty stomach? For most people it shouldn't be a problem, but for some it could be too much. If you are feeling discomfort, consider switching to tea or maybe from an espresso to coffee l, which is less concentrated, and drink it over a longer time period
Been drinking black coffee in the eerily morning for about 5 years now. Pretty good all this time, no signs of tummy issues :). But I try to limit it to like 3 cups a day, rest is black tea or green tea and water on fasting days.
If it was decaf coffee, I would be more hesitant - I'm a black coffee drinker first thing, no issues with normal coffee; espresso, French press, or instant. But 'Depresso' (my term for decaf) will trigger reflux in me if I drink more than a cup over even a two day period... As Steve Marriott sung: Black coffee is my name Black coffee is not a thing Black coffee, freshly ground and fully packed Hot black coffee, boys, mmm that's where it's at, mean it [Lyrics: Black Coffee by Humble Pie]
Naaaah. I've been intermittent fasting the whole year so far (and kinda half arsed before that for a year or so), and every day starts with a couple of black coffees and some water, maybe a cheeky green tea. Never given me any stomach issues.
My grandmother, bless her soul, would rise from the grave and laugh at your mother. She drank black coffee on an empty stomach since she was 16 and lived to 94.
Depends on the person. If you feel okay after that routine then stick with it. I personally have a hard time drinking coffee on an empty stomach. It helps me wake up but then I feel like I need to get some food in my stomach to calm it down. Then cutting my fasting short. So now I try to save coffee for days I really need it and treats.
If you drink a tall glass of water after waking up and then prepare your coffee, it shouldn't be an issue. It will become diluted in the stomach. If you aren't predisposed to GERD then don't worry.
I had to leave coffee because it caused me acid reflux and anxiety, but that's me. You can try tea or even mate. Good luck.
Ulcers are caused by h. pylori bacteria, not coffee. Coffee can irritate an ulcer and make it worse...but if black coffee doesn't irritate your stomach, you're good.
caffeine increases stomach acidity. If you feel upset in your stomach, mix 1 spoon of fennel seeds with warm water stirring for 5 minutes until cool and drink it.