Coffee brews sugar problems

Fatty food is never good for you unless you are talking about the omega-3 fats from some lightly grilled wild salmon or some such. Unfortunately the fats found in fast foods are less healthy but that is not news. What is news is that having coffee hours after that fatty fast meal is devastating for your blood sugar levels.

High blood sugar is not a good think even if you are not diabetic or pre-diabetic. When sugar circulates around in your blood instead of being pushed into body tissues by insulin then a process called gylcation can occur. Glycation involves sugar and protein molecules combine to form a tangled mess of tissue. This shows up in what is called connective tissue in your body and has far reaching consequences.

Glycated tissue is tough and inflexible, leading to wrinkling not only of the skin, but also of important internal organs. Furthermore, glycated tissues then produce Aged Glycation End-products (AGEs) that produce large numbers of damaging free radicals. Glycation causes tough, wrinkled connective tissue which is most visible on the skin as wrinkles. However, it occurs all through the body. Tough, inelastic connective tissue is very damaging to organs where flexibility is vital. This is especially important in the heart, kidneys, brain, eyes and pancreas. Lack of flexibility in these organs leads to reduced functionality and early death. That is why you don’t want to elevate blood sugar levels and why a new study has bad news for coffee drinkers.

This study used a drink containing only fat to test the effect of fats in the diet on blood sugar levels. People drank this fat drink (at the rate of one gram of fat for every kilo of body weight) and then six hours later were given a meal heavy in sugar. The results showed an increase in blood sugar levels of 32 per cent compared to normal (ie when they had not had the fatty drink).

On another occasion the subjects had the fatty drink followed by two cups of caffeinated coffee. When they then had the sugary meal six hours later their blood sugar was 65 per cent higher than normal.

The researchers showed that high fat meals blunt the release of hormones from the gastrointestinal tract that signal the pancreas to produce insulin. Coffee obviously doubles that effect. All of which means that fat and coffee impair your ability to deal with sugar for hours afterwards. Given the problems that high blood sugar levels can cause it might be an idea to give that cake and coffee a miss today.

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