Coffee enema studies

Many people promote, use and take coffee enemas for health reasons.

Does anyone know if clinical trials are/ were done on the efficacy of coffee enemas having benefits when taken?

Define clinical trial; if you mean the modern approach, with control groups and statistics, I could not find any evidence. Enemas in general fell out of favor and doctors, being good social animals, stick to the approved view.

The reality of today's research is that some company foots the bill for research. Could you see big coffee brands going: "and here is our new blend, backdoor best; studies proved its benefits"? 😊

Personally, I have a coffee cult. Love the stuff, love the flavor, the taste, the aftertaste, the possibilities of the morning, the energy - I'd take it intravenously. BUT: when I tried it in an enema, I found I was missing a lot. So for me it's just a waste of good coffee - I take it orally or not at all!

Look under the database PubMed and type in 'coffee enemas'. Whether you like the results or not, these are the kind of studies that are accepted by the medical establishment. I believe it was @Iris who pointed out in another thread, if you like coffee enemas, enjoy them but don't expect science to support some of the curative claims of proponents..

If someone can't make a large enough profit from something they won't "study" it. Coffee enemas are not alone in that matter.

...if you like coffee enemas, enjoy them but don't expect science to support some of the curative claims of proponents.

Do no harm to yourself, but enjoy if you feel coffee enemas are helpful to you.

I’ve heard of alcohol and coffee enemas, and always wondered why someone would want to waste good alcohol or coffee on a butt cleanser? Wouldn’t they irritate the intestines?

I wish there were a comprehensive study, but I’m not aware of one, and I’ve done a lot of reading. “Science” continues to treat the coffee enema as quackery — a slam against Gerson and their cancer regiment — yet there is a growing interest, especially among millennials, in coffee enemas to boost their liver’s ability to “detox,” in itself considered by the medical establishment as unnecessary.

My off-the-wall suspicion to why the coffee enema is popular with some people, is something that we on this site already know and love — an enema FEELS GOOD.

@Vicki_V ,

Thank you and all who responded. I look forward to your future input on this.

Hello

Who hasn't heard the saying: Faith can move mountains?

A positive inner attitude can often have a positive effect on the healing process of an illness. There are countless examples of this.

Coffee enemas are said to have a detoxifying effect on the liver. Both proponents and opponents of this claim always find something to support their opinion.

Now let's turn to the liver, which is an extraordinary metabolic organ. It performs its tasks quietly and without complaint until it reaches its limits. And these limits are usually reached through personal lifestyle choices. These include, among other things, poor diet (junk food), too much fat, too much sugar, being overweight, and careless consumption of alcohol and drugs.

Anyone who believes that coffee enemas can have a beneficial effect on our liver is, in my opinion, mistaken. Our liver possesses an incredible natural capacity for regeneration. We should use this to our advantage by creating a more affordable and better environment for their work.

Which brings us back to the belief mentioned at the beginning. Some people will certainly occasionally want to use a coffee enema as a form of support, out of conviction.

I too occasionally received a coffee enema from my lady in my life; however, that was for other reasons...

My wonderful colon hydrotherapist, a registered nurse and midwife with decade's of experience providing colonics to a huge range of clients absolutely swore by coffee enemas. She may not have actually conducted a clinical trial but she definitely knew what she was talking about.

Not at all a study, just an anecdote, but as an enema taker without a gallbladder I’m fairly sure that taking an enema temporarily increases my liver’s flow of bile. I can see the color in what I expel and feel a ridiculously increased urgency to expel if I take an enema when I’m struggling with too much bile in the first place.

While I’ve sadly needed to give up all but the occasional sip of coffee, I used to drink French press made with a metal mesh filter that allowed all of the oils/flavenoid compounds through. I did this even as my gallbladder started to be very poor at is job, and when I’d drink French press coffee, bile and whatever was in its path would quickly run straight through me. I did conduct the experiment using a paper filter, which seemed to remove most of the volatile/fat soluble compounds that produced the effect.

In sum, I suspect that a coffee enema using coffee that still had its bioactive oils would temporarily increase one’s bile flow.

Does this amount to a detox? Well, it can make you poop. And bile does carry some toxins out of the body as you do so. So maybe it does make that happen a tiny bit faster than otherwise. I wouldn’t count on it to undo a lifetime of rough living. I also suspect that most enema coffee is handled in a way that decreases or removes the compounds that cause this bile dump, but I’m willing to believe that taking it via the rectal route could, in theory, bring more of what’s left to the liver.

Can enemas make you feel great due to increasing your serotonin and emptying an uncomfortable bowel? Yes. Can caffeine, via either end, make you feel focused and as if your life is more worth living? Also yes.

(Sigh, RIP the taste of good French press and the time when I could have caffeine without adverse effects.)

So…I totally believe coffee enemas could make you feel good, and I suppose have some marginally detoxifying effect, but I struggle to think it’d be enough to get ahead of any real problems or abuses of your liver.

Google Scholar is usually a good source for things if you want a more academic and researched point of view; fortunately a lot of medical journals seem to have a findings sections near the top so you can see what was discovered without wading into a bunch of methodology and statistics. A quick search of coffee enemas produces results. Here's a couple (but there were more) . . . the TLDR is basically both studies seem plagued by small sample sizes and are very "meh" or "non existent" benefits of doing them. Not that means you can't enjoy them.

Safety & Effectiveness of Self Administered Coffee Enema

https://journals.lww.com/md-journal/fulltext/2020/09040/the_safety_and_effectiveness_of_self_administered.58.aspx

Coffee vs Coffee Enemas for Constipation

https://doi.org/10.1177/0960327111432499

@PassionFruity . Thanks. Interesting. I would definitely volunteer for any study that involves researchers administering enemas except I'd be too old to be included. All this and much other info. I've come across makes me wonder how Gerson and his legion of followers came up with their theories ?

I've come across makes me wonder how Gerson and his legion of followers came up with their theories ?

Pulled them out of their ass? 😉😉😉

@ronniewater I'm not familiar with their claims / research . . . my best guess on some of this stuff would be general extrapolation based on other findings. Like coffee consumed orally has antioxidants or cleansing effects ergo coffee intake in other ways should have similar benefits so long as it is absorbed (if you consider things like Tylenol can be administered various ways it makes sense and isn't too far fetched). And of course everyone has different experiences with treatments so for some people they achieve a certain effect or feeling from a treatment (whether or placebo or not) which solidifies their belief.

BTW . . . if interested in medical studies you can sign up on Research Match and answer some questions and you'll get emails if you're "matched" with studies you might be eligible for. Most are just surveys but sometimes you can get a gift card or something for your trouble.

@Vicki_V said,

My off-the-wall suspicion to why the coffee enema is popular with some people, is something that we on this site already know and love — an enema FEELS GOOD.

Not coffee enemas, but a regular Ivory soap followed by a salt and baking soda rinse enema.

This was something my siblings and I discovered around age four or five back in the early nineteen fifties. A few years later, as preteens then teenagers, we swapped enemas with one another to take care of each other's needs whenever we got really horny. Then, once I was married, my wife and I used enemas during sexual foreplay and occasionally during intercourse. Saying enemas “Feel Good” is an understatement to horny teenagers or my wife and I. Some of the best orgasms we ever had, were during sexual intercourse, while playing around giving one another enemas.