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01/09/2025

Mixing coffee and antibiotics is a really bad idea, research reveals.

Scientists studied how E. coli, a common and sometimes harmful bacteria, reacts to 94 different chemicals.

About a third of these substances affected how the bacteria manage what gets in and out of their cells, but caffeine stood out the most. It caused E. coli to absorb less of certain antibiotics like ciprofloxacin. This doesn’t mean the bacteria become fully resistant, but it does suggest they’re adapting in subtle ways that help them survive. One key finding was the role of a protein called Rob, which helps control transport in the bacteria. Caffeine activated Rob, which then triggered changes in several transport proteins, ultimately making it harder for the antibiotics to get inside the bacteria.

The result?

The medicine doesn’t work as well. This type of resistance is called low-level antibiotic resistance, and it’s more about bacteria adjusting to their environment than mutating completely. Interestingly, this effect didn’t happen in Salmonella enterica, a close relative of E. coli, suggesting the caffeine effect might only apply to certain types of bacteria. The experiments were all done in lab settings, not in people, so scientists don’t yet know how much coffee you'd have to drink for this to matter during an actual infection. But it’s a starting point for more research into how everyday substances like caffeine could interfere with treatments in unexpected ways.

source
"Systematic screen uncovers regulator contributions to chemical cues in Escherichia coli" Plos Biology. 2025