Health experts have warned that you should never drink coffee before you eat breakfast, as it can disrupt your blood glucose levels, reports Daily Record.
Too much coffee can disrupt hormonal balance
It’s a very popular way to kickstart your day, but it’s recommended that you always line your stomach before having your first coffee of the morning.
Too much caffeine before food can damage your hormonal balance, according to findings published in the British Journal of Nutrition. To stop this from happening, you should always make sure you eat something before brewing a coffee, the Express reports.
Choosing to have caffeine as soon as you wake up may affect your glucose control, as reported by scientists at the University of Bath.
The research highlighted that disrupted sleep and coffee intake both independently impair glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity in healthy adults. Blood glucose is essential for the prevention of conditions like diabetes and heart disease.
Overnight experiments
The study was carried out on 29 healthy men and women who underwent three different overnight experiments.
- In the first scenario, the participants were given a sweet and sugary drink after waking up from a normal night’s sleep.
- In scenario two, they were given the same drink, but the night before they had been awoken every hour for five minutes.
- And in the third case, they were given a strong black coffee as well as a sugary drink after a night of disturbed sleep.
All participants gave a blood sample at the end of the experiment, so the scientists could study their blood glucose response.
The results showed that disrupted sleep didn’t have much effect on glucose levels, but having a strong black coffee on an empty stomach increased the blood glucose response to their sugary drink by roughly 50 percent.
This means that drinking coffee as soon as you wake up could have a significant effect on the body’s blood sugar and metabolic control.
Diabetes – a long term complication?
The long-term risks haven’t yet been defined, but complications like diabetes could arise when the body’s metabolism is altered.
Cortisol is though to be the culprit here, as it makes blood glucose levels spike by releasing stored glucose. If levels remain high, it can lead to conditions such as type 2 diabetes thanks to the soaring blood sugar levels.
Medicover Hospitals states: “[…] Experts warn that coffee should never be consumed in the morning when you wake up. The reason is that coffee will increase the levels of cortisol very quickly and the body will take a long time to return to its normal state. This hormone controls our biological clock and the ability to stay awake.“
“[…] The consumption of coffee on an empty stomach will increase the level of acid in the stomach, which can lead to bloating and vomiting.”
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Source: Daily Record
