diff --git a/src/couch/src/couch_httpd.erl b/src/couch/src/couch_httpd.erl
index 8f7fedd..53d14d7 100644
--- a/src/couch/src/couch_httpd.erl
+++ b/src/couch/src/couch_httpd.erl
@@ -599,13 +599,16 @@
 body(#httpd{req_body=ReqBody}) ->
     ReqBody.
 
-json_body(Httpd) ->
+json_body(#httpd{req_body=undefined} = Httpd) ->
     case body(Httpd) of
         undefined ->
             throw({bad_request, "Missing request body"});
         Body ->
             ?JSON_DECODE(maybe_decompress(Httpd, Body))
-    end.
+    end;
+
+json_body(#httpd{req_body=ReqBody}) ->
+    ReqBody.
 
 json_body_obj(Httpd) ->
     case json_body(Httpd) of