What scientists just found between coffee and antibiotics may surprise you

Drinking coffee is part of daily life for millions of people, but new research shows it might have an unexpected effect on the bacteria living in our bodies.

A laboratory study by scientists in Germany suggests that caffeine may make E. coli bacteria less sensitive to some antibiotics. E. coli is a common type of bacteria that usually lives harmlessly in the gut but can cause infections such as food poisoning or urinary tract infections.

The study, published July 22 in the journal PLOS Biology, looked at how E. coli responded to 94 different chemicals, including medicines like aspirin, natural compounds in the body, and ingredients in food like vanilla and caffeine.

The relation between protein and caffeine

What the researchers found was surprising, caffeine reduced the levels of a protein called OmpF, which helps certain antibiotics, like ciprofloxacin and amoxicillin, enter the bacterial cell. If there’s less OmpF, the antibiotics can’t get inside the bacteria as easily, which could make them less effective.

But before you consider giving up your morning coffee, scientists want to make one thing very clear, this does not mean drinking coffee will stop antibiotics from working in your body.

The scientists even tested caffeine’s effect on a real E. coli sample taken from a patient with a urinary tract infection. The same thing happened, the bacteria made less of the OmpF protein. Still, this was a lab study, not a real-world clinical trial. That means we don’t yet know if caffeine affects antibiotics the same way inside the human body.

The study also found that a gene regulator called Rob was involved in many of the changes. This protein helps bacteria turn other genes on or off, and it may be more important than researchers previously thought.

In short, caffeine might change how bacteria react to antibiotics, but experts say more research is needed. For now, doctors say to keep drinking your coffee and follow your doctor’s instructions if you’re taking antibiotics.