The results of the study, carried out at University Hospital Heidelberg in Germany and published in the British Journal of Surgery, show patients who drink coffee had a reduced time to first bowel action. The results also showed drinking coffee encouraged a quicker return to tolerance of solid food.
“Postoperative bowel obstruction is a common problem after abdominal surgery and the aim of this study was to test our theory that coffee would help to alleviate this,” said lead author Dr Sascha Müller, who is now based at Kantonsspital St Gallen in Switzerland, in the release.
In the study, titled “Randomized clinical trial on the effect of coffee on postoperative ileus following elective colectomy,” a total of 80 patients were randomized into two groups of 40 patients, with one group consuming 100 ml of coffee three times daily and the other consuming 100 ml of water three times daily.
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