Coffee after Fast Food Causes a Blood Sugar Spike

We hear enough about the good and bad effects of coffee.  Here’s another bad effect, which might be important to people worrying about their risk of developing type 2 diabetes.  A relevant Canadian study was published in the Journal of Nutrition.

Healthy men volunteers drank either a saturated fat drink (1 gm fat per kg body weight) or water, and 6 hours later they took a sugar drink followed by blood sugar determinations (in effect, an oral glucose tolerance  test).  After the fatty drink, the blood sugar levels produced by the glucose drink were 32% higher than when the volunteer had drunk water.

The effect of coffee was then investigated.  For this test, the volunteers drank two cups of caffeinated coffee (5 mg/kg body weight) 5 hours after the fatty drink, and an hour later took the same oral glucose tolerance test.    This time, the blood sugar levels increased by 65% compared with those after just water (i.e. no fat) and no caffeinated coffee.  When decaffeinated coffee was used, here was no additional effect on blood sugar levels.     

This study showed the ill effects of a fatty meal on blood sugar control may last for hours, and that this action is potentiated by caffeinated coffee.  The researchers suggest in would b healthier to limit intake of saturated fatty acids and drink decaf rather than regular coffee.  But that goes for people at risk of developing type 2 diabetes, chiefly.  However, that flies in the face of recent reports that 5 daily cups of coffee can help ward off diabetes!  What to do?