Seven ways coffee affects your body beyond caffeine, from gut microbes to iron
Coffee is best known, and perhaps most valued, for its caffeine and its ability to make us feel more awake and alert. But coffee is much more than caffeine dissolved in hot water.
edited by Sadie Harley , reviewed by Andrew Zinin
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Coffee is a chemically complicated plant extract containing hundreds of bioactive compounds . These can have all kinds of weird and wonderful effects on your body, even when you're drinking decaf.
One study shows about three in 10 people say they get the urge to poop shortly after drinking coffee.
This happens quickly, and with both regular and decaf. So it's down to more than just caffeine. But it's not clear exactly which coffee compounds cause this.