Effect of coffee on blood sugar and diabetes risk
Many of us love our daily coffee. However, what are the effects of chronic coffee consumption on our health? After all, "Caffeine" is listed as a "drug" in the big book of legal and illegal drugs.
The effects of coffee on our body has been investigated in many research. The results do not seem as straight forward as it seems, with many variations and depends on situations.
“Have you had your cup of joe today?”
After investigating several research articles and scientific publications, this is what I have found:
As we all probably know, "Caffeine" is a stimulant and stimulates all cells in the body when taken into the body.
Caffeine affects the body by making cells work faster, harder, and this stimulation mimics the "FIGHT OR FLIGHT" response in the body. Just imagine a viscous dog suddenly chasing you while you are walking.
This response, increases the release of ADRENALINE, and this mobilizes fat, sugar, and all other energy sources away from our "storage" cells in the body, and floods the blood with sugar, fat. This also makes the insulin cells less sensitive and can cause diabetes.
Here are some confounding situations: For those that are not in the habit of drinking coffee daily, during experiments, these test subjects their blood sugar have a more dramatic increase after coffee consumption, versus habitual coffee drinkers.
After all meals we eat, our blood sugar level rises. Due to the above mentioned adrenaline effects of coffee, it is A BAD IDEA to drink coffee after meals, as it would only flood the blood stream with more sugar, on top of the rise after meals. This is especially crucial for diabetics, as that can make the "sugar crash" afterwards more devastating. I know, I know, many of us think we can drink coffee to battle the "food coma" after a full mean, so that we can continue to work. However, this would be extremely harmful over the long run for anyone and their glucose tolerance, even habitual drinkers.
It is recommended diabetics switch to "decaf" but hey, in my opinion, what is the fun in life if you dilute everything down and change things to "decaf"? Isn't life to be enjoyed?
Here are my recommendations:
Since caffeine mobilizes sugar and fat into the blood stream, and the fact that all of our blood sugar levels rise after meals, I propose drinking coffee AWAY from meal times. Preferably drinking coffee two hours after you finish your meal. This actually benefits the overall health of the body as there would be no "crash" after meals. Instead, a slow trickle of sugar and fat is constantly in the blood stream after two hours of digestion of meals. It is actually normal for people to experience food coma after meals. However, for people who experience SEVERE "food coma" (Postprandial somnolence), it is recommended to nap, stand, or do gentle waking after meals.
Lastly, it is often a habit or preference that when people drink coffee, they take in something "Sweet" on the side, like a dessert (brownies, cakes, etc). As previously mentioned, this would be extremely detrimental to your glucose tolerance and speed up your chances of getting diabetes
Despite many research often say 4-5 cups/day is harmless, I propose people to drink TWO cups max per day, and the rest of the time they can drink tea which still has antioxidants and other benefits of coffee, but with less caffeine levels.
Some additional facts on the side:
"Coffee" has caffeine in it, but coffee is different from "caffeine" or other "caffeinated drinks". Coffee itself is derived naturally from beans, and the drink itself consists of other natural chemicals, such as antioxidants. This is NOT the same as caffeine pills or caffeine added to Monster drinks, Coke, etc.
Coffee has been shown to diminish the risk of getting diabetes, for those that does not already have diabetes. However, please still follow my advise of taking coffee two hours prior or after meals. For those already have diabetes, drinking it away from meal times can actually help normalize blood sugar and lessen bad effects of diabetes. Coffee also has been shown to KILL bad cells in the body (e.g. Cancer cells). Coffee has also been shown to help other illnesses such as Parkinson's Disease, liver problems, gout, improves memory in Alzheimer patients, and other illnesses.
Comentarios