How Does Caffeine Affect Your Bladder

If you are a coffee drinker and you suffer from symptoms of Overactive Bladder (OAB) such as frequent urination or urgent urination, it’s a safe bet that someone has told you to cut out caffeine from your diet. Caffeine can serve as both a stimulant which can irritate your bladder and a diuretic that can result in greater urine production. So, it should follow that it must lead to Overactive Bladder, right? That has been the conventional wisdom for years. But, it’s important to check if our common sense is based on facts.

There have been several studies over the years that look at the relationship between bladder symptoms and intake of caffeine. When looked at together, these studies demonstrate that drinking more than 2 cups of coffee per day (>200 mg caffeine) is associated with worsening symptoms of overactive bladder. The effect does depend on the dose and even people without OAB who drink more than 4 cups of coffee per day (>400 mg of caffeine) can see frequent and urgent urination as a side effect. One bit of good news is that the small amount of caffeine found in decaffeinated coffee does not appear to have a negative effect on OAB symptoms. In this case, the conventional wisdom, dispensed for years by friends, family and even your health care provider appears to be spot on. You may want to skip that extra cup of coffee tomorrow if you have a long meeting in the morning.

Another important lesson is that simply reducing the amount of caffeine you drink can have a positive impact. You don’t need to cut out coffee or tea completely to see a benefit. And it is probably easier to reduce your coffee intake instead of eliminating it entirely. That’s a useful reminder as you try out different behavioral therapies for Overactive Bladder. It is usually easier and more sustainable to moderate something than to eliminate something.