According to the book Akkermansia eats the mucus in in your guts while fasting and is supposedly “one of the good guys” that you want to flourish. But what about drinking coffee during the fasting hours? Does that have a negative effect on Akkermansia?

Most people say yes to coffee during fasting but I haven’t found anyone mentioning Akkermansia in connection with coffee.

Also, I’m currently trying “keto proof coffee” (1 cup coffee, 1 tbs coconut oil and 1 tbs butter), 1 cup of kefir and on glass of kombucha with 1 tbs potatostarch for breakfast hoping that that will get me well through 12 hours of fasting. Should i skip that and just continue the night fasting until the evening? I’m trying it for the first time today so I guess I’ll see if it works as intended, usually my breafast is just kefir.

Just to clarify, After the fatty breakfast coffee i have several cups of black coffee (instant coffee) during the day, it’s those I wonder if they affect Akkermansia.

There likely is no body of research on one specific ‘food’ and one specific microbe. A complicating factor is the many coffee products on the market, the differing qualities and quantities drunk. But do check PubMed and Google Scholar.

That seems like a lot of caffeine. Is that normal for you or only when fasting?

Caffeine kicks in the ‘fight or flight’ response: that stimulates (potentially irritates) the gut, can reduce sleep quality, can contribute to chronic low grade inflammation.

As such caffeine/ coffee has the potential to negatively affect the microbiome. You might mix it up with green tea, fruit teas, coconut water, cocoa or suchlike.

Or distribute your calories through the day. I have not read Dr Mosley’s ‘Fast Diet’ book, but it is my understanding you cut calories substantially rather that don’t eat at all.

Nothing on PubMed but there were lots of results on Google Scholar, some of them seemed to be relevant. I guess I’ll have to take a closer look.

A normal amount of coffee for me is about 6 cups, fasting or not. It shouldn’t add up to that much caffeine though since as I understand it instant coffee has significantly lower caffeine than regular coffee. Might still be a good idea to cut down a bit though, I’ll take a trip to the shop looking for green tea. It’s more important to me to drink something rather then it having to be coffee specifically.

Akkermansia eats the mucus in the guts when you are fasting, thats why I want to keep long fasting periods rather than spreading out the calories through the day. I haven’t read the “Fast Diet” book either but my understanding is that that book was written when less was known (at least by Dr Mosley) about the gut microbiome.

The Fast Diet (aka 5:2) was brilliant. Mosley as usual bang on the money scientifically and wall ahead of the curve in terms of medical thinking. The original programme is still available online here and I cant’ recommend it too highly:

Yes it appears Akkermansia tidies up the gut wall and lives on the mucus. Too much “akker” ain’t good either! But I think a combination of fasting (5:2 or 16:8) plus Cleverguts is a perfect combination.

Coffee (black) contains a lot of polyphenols and current thinking is its good for a healthy microbiome.

Yes to green tea but be warned its very much an acquired taste. I’d start with green tea plus lemon or ginger etc until you get used to the taste.

William: The caffeine and polyphenol content of instant coffee is apparently highly variable, presumably depending on the quality of the beans and each stage of processing (as with cocoa). The manufacturer might be able to supply information on the average caffeine content of their product.

Since the ‘Fast Diet’ was published Dr Mosley has increased the suggested calorie limit on a fasting day (reported in the media if you want to follow that up). I am pretty sure it was early 2017, so have been after researching and writing ‘Clever Guts’. Might also be worth following up?

Which section{s} of the gut are Akkermansia and their mucus ‘banquet’ found? How empty does that really get when not eating for X hours? What does Akkermamsia eat when not fasting?

The large intestine should certainly not be clear unless prepping for a colonoscopy! And the small intestine can only empty into the large intestine if there is sufficient space. Mucus production is surely a continuum not an ‘on-off’ situation?

If you do choose only to have a light liquid breakfast on a fast day, I wonder if it might be better to have something more nutritious than ‘bulletproof coffee’? The butter, coconut oil and instant coffee don’t supply much more than fat calories. Other milk products have a better range of micronutrients (vitamins/ minerals/ amino acids), ditto cocoa.

Just seen GrahamPhillips response! Whilst there may absolutely be some benefits to good quality coffee – instant or otherwise – I remain in the ‘balance and variety’ and ‘caution on an empty stomach’ camps.

GrahamSPhillips: Yeah, I think the 5:2 seems like a good diet and I have tried it before. When I have a body I’m happy with I think I’ll get back on it or some variation of it.

I used to drink green tea a couple of years ago so I’m fine with the taste, didn’t find any in the shop though so I might have buy online. Or I just drink oolong tea which is somewhere between green and black tea and available everywhere her. It’s also my favorite tea 🙂

The instant coffee I’m drinking is the cheapest Nescafé so it shouldn’t be hard to find that information.

I don’t think its about the intestines being clear for Akkermansia, I think it’s about the competition backing off a bit giving them a chance to thrive although i’m not certain. The eat the mucus lining the large intestines, As I understand it no bacteria should be in the small intestine and if they are they are in the wrong place.

The keto proof coffee in the morning is because I’m trying to go into ketosis, I’m very intrigued about getting the body to more effectively use fat for energy, together with the coffee in the morning I have a cup of kefir and a glass of kombucha with potato starch. In the evening I have an omelet with meat and vegetables keeping both the calories and carbohydrates fairly low. I also exercise a lot at the moment. Right now I have a two week window where it doesn’t matter much that I’m tired som I see it as a good window to quickly lose some weight