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I recently asked this list if anyone else had seen a relationship
between coffee-drinking and canker sores.  It looks as though all
responses are in, although I may not have seen all of them because my
email program was moving many responsed to the "deleted messages"
folder
and unless I looked in the folder before closing my email program, I
lost
such messages.  Even so, I think I read most of the responses, and
thank
everyone who took the trouble to write and ask the pardon of those I
missed.

Here is the text of the original post:

"A few months ago, I began to notice that coffee wasn't tasting as
good as it did before.  It seemed the aroma and the flavor was gone,
and
didn't seem to agree with my stomach.  Not long after that, I began
to get
canker sores on my lower lip.  I have been a sufferer from canker
sores as
far back as I can remember, but beginning in January 2000 when I
realized
that gluten was causing them, I went gluten-free and the canker sores
went
away, except for the odd one.  It became very rare for me to get a
sore on
the lip, and that is why I was so surprised that they had come back.


I am suspicious that it is the coffee that is the culprit in this new
outbreak of the sores, and have stopped drinking it and switched to
tea.
Because I have been an enthusiastic drinker of coffee for about 40
years,
this has been pure torment, although stopping coffee seems to stop
the
canker sores, too.

Twice now I have waited until my lip is free of canker sores and then
made
myself a cup or two of coffee, and both times I have been punished
within
a day with a canker sore outbreak on the lower lip.  I also find that
the
aroma, taste and reaction to coffee are as absent or unpleasant as I
described in the first paragraph.

I have been trying to reason out why coffee should have turned on me.
I
have been living in Ireland for the past 6-1/2 years and coffee here
is
significantly stronger than in the USA, so I suppose it is possible
that
the greater strength of the brew has done something to me in that
time. Of
the period here, I've been off gluten for nearly 3 years.

I also have been eating lots more dark chocolate and salted peanuts
in the past year or so and experimented with leaving them out of my
diet and then re-introducing them, but they don't seem to cause the
sores.  However, I find that chocolate tends to be constipating, and
I am
beginning to wonder if eating chocolate and drinking strong coffee
means
that something in the coffee is staying in my intestines longer.

As an experiment I have also been taking Mastic Gum tablets to see if
they
would help.  It seems to calm my stomach alright, but I'm not sure it
stops canker sores altogether after drinking coffee.

Has anyone else had an experience like mine and been suspicious of
the coffee and chocolate combination as a possible factor in the
return of canker sores after a long absence while living gluten-
free?"

Or is it just likely to be the coffee that is the culprit?

I'll end by adding that I've tried several blends of coffee beans and
ground coffee, and several ways of making it, and have invested in a
filter to remove organics from the tap water, and have tried bottled
water
to make the coffee-all to no avail."

------------------
Four responses made very concrete suggestions:  try an elimination
diet or drink the coffee with a straw or drink decaffeinated coffee
or just quit coffee.

"I, too, am a canker sore sufferer and eliminating gluten eliminated
the
sores. But I at one time thought that acidic foods were causing
them...like tomatoes, citrus, and of course coffee.

I think our bodies rebel after many years of 'abuse.' But one of my
treats now, being gluten-free, has been Starbuck's Coffee Frapuccinos
which I'm absolutely hooked on! And that doesn't seem to affect me.
But
I'm sure they're more sugar and caffeine, with the acid somewhat
diluted.
Chocolate, I also thought might be a problem but hasn't been for me.
On
the canker sore websites, that's one of the items that's high on the
'cause' list.

Best thing you can do, I've found, is an elimination diet. It's
better than suffering!"

<This is very practical advice (and I am afraid, correct advice), but
it
means quitting the coffee, and that is just what I don't want to
hear.  In
effect, though, I have cut back very severely on coffee and the
canker so
res stop when I keep away from coffee.  Like an alcoholic who can't
stay
away from the drink, I get cravings for a good cup of coffee, and
even
though it isn't all that great when I finally have one, if I drink
more
than one or two cups in a day, next morning I can feel a canker sore
warning tingle on the inside of a lip or a cheek.>

"Two ridiculous ideas but any chance that the cup you drink from may
have
a substance that bothers you and what if you tried drinking the
coffee
with a straw."

<I use many different coffee cups, and don't think they are the
cause.
However the second part of the response hit a chord with me because 5
years ago I made the same suggestion to my sister whose son suffers
from
canker
 sores.  I had forgotten about the idea, and immediately went out and
got
some straws and tried drinking coffee through them.  It seemed to
work
because I wasn't getting sores on my lip.  However, I got four big
ones on
the inside of the left and right side of the cheeks next to the
teeth.>

"Have you tried de-caf? J There is caffeine in both chocolate and
coffee. I had problems with coffee when first diagnosed celiac but
the longer I'm gf (1 1/2 yrs now) I'm am now able to tolerate it.
Good luck!"

<Yes, I tried de-caf, but was too worried about getting another
canker sore to keep drinking it for long.  I had, instead, switched
to tea.  Of course tea has plenty of caffeine in it, especially the
strong tea I brew, and so I think the caffeine isn't the cause of my
canker sores.>

"I don't know about the canker sores as related to coffee, but my
mouth sores have disappeared on the GF diet (18 months). I was a
devoted coffee drinker who also had to give it up as it began to
taste bad and bother my intestines. However, I have developed a
wonderful relationship with tea! So many wonderful varieties, much
less caffeine, and much less stomach distress, though I cannot drink
as
much as I might like of it. Moderation is the key. Happy tea
drinking!"

<Yes, I am now drinking more tea and enjoying it less.>

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