Coffee before breakfast poses diabetes risk: study

Taking coffee before breakfast in morning can have a negative effect on blood sugar control what may finally result in diabetes and heart disease.

The disclosure was made in a research article published in the British Journal of Nutrition recently, reports UK based online portal Independent.

During the research, a team of University of Bath examined the effect of disrupted sleep and morning coffee across a range of different metabolic markers.

According to a release issued by the university, the researchers found that whilst one night of poor sleep has limited impact on our metabolism, drinking coffee as a way to perk you up from a slumber can have a negative effect on blood glucose (sugar) control.

Given the importance of keeping the blood sugar levels within a safe range to reduce the risk of conditions such as diabetes and heart disease, they say these results could have 'far-reaching' health implications especially considering the global popularity of coffee.

During the study, 29 healthy men and women underwent three different overnight experiments in a random order.

For the first two scenarios, participants were given a sugary drink upon waking - first from a normal night's sleep, and then again after a poor night's sleep during which they were woken up for five minutes every hour.

In the third, their sleep was similarly disrupted, but they were given a strong black coffee 30 minutes before consuming the sugary drink.

In each of these tests, blood samples from participants were taken following the glucose drink which in energy content (calories) mirrored what might typically be consumed for breakfast.

Their findings highlight that one night of disrupted sleep did not worsen participants' blood glucose or insulin responses at breakfast, when compared to a normal night's sleep.

However, strong black coffee consumed before breakfast substantially increased the blood glucose response to breakfast by around 50%.

Although population-level surveys indicate that coffee may be linked to good health, past research has previously demonstrated that caffeine has the potential to cause insulin resistance.

This new study therefore reveals that the common remedy of drinking coffee after a bad night's sleep may solve the problem of feeling sleepy but could create another by limiting your body's ability to tolerate the sugar in your breakfast.