Am currently sick with a bad throat. While enjoying my cup of coffee, I had the thought; “Should I avoid coffee if I have a bad throat?”. So, are there any studies or general consensus on this?
I’m not sure about any of the direct impact of drinking coffee, but generally, any warm liquid has a soothing effect, so for me drinking coffee when having a sore throat works. At least I haven’t noticed anything directly negative.
Emphasis on warm. If you got a 3000 degree McDonald’s coffee that would probably do more harm than good.
Slightly over body temperature? Perfect.
Drink tea with honey instead.
Or both :)
Wouldn’t the sugar be likely to feed the bacterial infection?
No, honey is a great antiseptic.
The words you said aren’t wrong, but in this context it seems like you’re suggesting that the honey in tea might have a similar effect when consumed. That’s not at all supported by this study. Much of honey’s antimicrobial effects are (1) due to its high sugar concentration, and (2) in reference to topical applications. Those conditions don’t exist here.
It will soothes the pain a little. And no it doesn’t increase or encourage the infection.
But yeah, a raw tablespoon of honey is best.
Honey actually does the exact opposite.
Caffeine can decrease your saliva production and lead to a dry mouth. If you add any dairy products to your coffee, that can increase your sinus congestion.
I wouldn’t worry much about it. Just make sure you are also drinking plenty of water. Getting dehydrated will adversely affect your recovery time.
How does adding dairy to coffee increase sinus congestion?
It’s a fairly common mild allergy. I guess I shouldn’t have stated that like it is expected for everyone.
I don’t know anything about any studies on it, but I have heard caffeine can make a sore throat worse. A nice herbal tea with honey and lemon would probably work a lot better.
I haven’t seen an impact when I have a sore throat, but I’ve read coffee is a natural expectorant, so I make sure to drink it when I’ve got chest congestion.
But, to be honest, I’m always drinking it so who knows if it’s helpful.
If I’m sick and working I double down for the caffeine push. If I’m not working I switch to tea with honey since I can’t really taste my coffee as well anyway when ill.
Short answer is no though, you are not going to make yourself worse. Always a good idea to drink some water before coffee and probably an even better idea if throat is bothering you.
Last time I had a sore throat, I drank a lot of hibiscus (sort of like tea, but not even close). Obviously, I still had to fuel my caffeine addiction so I did have my usual coffee too, but most of the time I had a warm cup of hibiscus with me. Whatever you end up drinking, make sure it isn’t too hot, because that’s going to make everything worse. Hibiscus appeared to work just fine for me.
Anytime I’m sick I get repulsed by coffee. I trust my body’s reaction and just feel like I shouldn’t drink it.
