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from the my-breakfast-is-always-a-"sugary-drink" dept.
Drink coffee after breakfast, not before, for better metabolic control:
Given the importance of keeping our 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.
For their study, the physiologists at the University of Bath asked 29 healthy men and women to undergo three different overnight experiments in a random order:
- In one, condition participants had a normal night's sleep and were asked to consume a sugary drink on waking in the morning.
- On another occasion, participants experienced a disrupted night's sleep (where the researchers woke them every hour for five minutes) and then upon waking were given the same sugary drink.
- On another, participants experienced the same sleep disruption (i.e. being woken throughout the night ) but this time were first 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/insulin responses at breakfast, when compared to a normal night's sleep. Past research suggests that losing many hours of sleep over one and/or multiple nights can have negative metabolic effects, so it is reassuring to learn that a single night of fragmented sleep (e.g. due to insomnia, noise disturbance or a new baby) does not have the same effect.
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.
Journal Reference:
Harry A. Smith, Aaron Hengist, Joel Thomas, et al. Glucose control upon waking is unaffected by hourly sleep fragmentation during the night, but is impaired by morning caffeinated coffee, British Journal of Nutrition (DOI: 10.1017/S0007114520001865)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 12 2020, @01:29AM (6 children)
It gets the turdles movin'. I'm an old fart.
(Score: 3, Informative) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday October 12 2020, @01:47AM (5 children)
Caffeine metabolizes into theobromine (among other things), which is a smooth muscle relaxant. So that's not anecdotal medicine; you're firmly grounded in science.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 12 2020, @03:36AM (2 children)
No coffee for me* but lots of roughage (granola, salads) keeps things flowing for this mid-60's guy. For quite a few years now I start most mornings with a large glass of water. Then wait awhile before breakfast.
* I'm very sensitive to caffeine--if I get slightly sleepy in the afternoon, one chocolate covered coffee bean is enough to keep me going for an hour or two.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday October 12 2020, @01:10PM
You're in luck then, you can get theobromine directly from chocolate instead of having to metabolize it from caffeine.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 12 2020, @04:57PM
Chocolate covered beans seem to be way over-potency compared to brewed drinks. I don't know why - maybe stomach juices normally break down some caffeine but can't quickly enough penetrate shards of bean? IDK. But FYI, that specific example is well known to be potent-by-dose.
At least, among the coffee drinkers I know.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 12 2020, @02:15PM (1 child)
You shouldn't need any help of that sort if you're eating a decent diet. Shit should move through the bowels quickly enough that it doesn't smell too bad and through the ass relatively easy. Doing an elimination diet where you cut out every food that could cause issues and adding them back one at a time until you figure out which one is causing the problem is well worth it. Even just paying attention to the foods you were eating prior to having issues and focusing on those is likely to result in significant improvements.
Personally, most of the issues seem to come from milk, wheat and oats. I can still eat them, I just have to pay attention and limit their intake enough that it doesn't cause me too much trouble.
(Score: 2) by fakefuck39 on Monday October 12 2020, @11:40PM
it's not about needing help. I wake up, cup of coffee and a few drags from the vape, and I'm on the shitter. I can now shower, eat, and go to work.
It's not about getting the poop out. It's about getting it out at a convenient time - before the day starts, as opposed to at the work desk or in the middle of a 2-hour zoom call, where I have to hold it in.
(Score: 4, Touché) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday October 12 2020, @01:40AM (10 children)
s/Before/Instead of/
Fun fact, blood sugar levels are pretty much a complete non-issue if you don't consume more than a trivial amount of sugar or starches in the first place. Your body's quite capable of converting lipids into energy unless you eat so many carbohydrates that it essentially shuts that bit of functionality down. I mean, I whipped up a huge stack of pancakes late this morning and absolutely drowned them in syrup but I so rarely eat sugar at all or carbs as a major source of calories that I won't get light headed tomorrow even if I skip lunch as well as only drinking coffee for breakfast.
I call my diet Keto+. It's essentially Keto, plus whatever I really feel like eating. The plus is important because any diet that stands between me and the occasional plate of biscuits and gravy or loaded pizza can just fuck right off. In fact, I'm pretty sure you can get deported from the south for turning your nose up at biscuits and gravy. Sugars though? I don't really have much use for them anymore except in syrup, chocolate, or in the mash for rum.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 12 2020, @04:18AM (9 children)
Obviously your body isn't capable of regulating sugar levels properly if you're in your 40s and you have to get up in the middle of the night to piss.
Welcome to the world of type 2 diabetes.
Do yourself a favour and get tested. Because needing to get up in the middle of the night to piss while in your 40s or even into your 50s Is a sign of diabetes, not normal aging.
Or be in denial - no skin off my nose.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by maxwell demon on Monday October 12 2020, @07:15AM (2 children)
I've now read the post you replied to several times, and couldn't find anything about pissing at night in it.
Anyway, if you need to piss in the middle of the might, there are a lot of different reasons why that may be the case. Most of which warrant visiting a doctor, for sure, but diagnosing diabetes just on that one bit of information is certainly premature.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 12 2020, @12:00PM (1 child)
https://soylentnews.org/comments.pl?sid=39955 [soylentnews.org]
Someone regularly getting up in the middle of the night in their 40s, the first thing you check is the most common, and cheapest, thing to check. Blood glucose levels.
Most people know someone who is diabetic, and a test is just a finger prick and 15 seconds for the meter to give you the results. Just practice safe blood sampling by replacing the disposable lancet before and after..
I kneew a few people who didn't "take care of business" after testing too high. Knew - past tense - because they died before 60. Which is okay in a way because it means they never will get to tap the pension funds, leaving more for the rest of us, but seriously, it's a stupid way to die when it's so preventable.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 12 2020, @02:18PM
It's also worth noting that if you're just developing insulin resistance, that can often be reversed if you get to it early enough, but if you wait until it's full blown diabetes, it's very tough to reverse that. Chances are that early on, if you cut way back on sugar and increase the time between meals that the body will regain the lost sensitivity and you'll be better. Waiting until you've developed full blown diabetes and doing the same thing can be incredibly dangerous due to the narrow range of acceptable glucose levels before you get sick or die.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday October 12 2020, @01:21PM (5 children)
I have zero issues with my sugar levels and no other diabetic indicators. Thanks for the concern though.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 12 2020, @02:01PM (4 children)
Then why have you been getting up in the middle of the night ( for quite some time, obviously, if you perceive that as normal)?
It's not normal.
Then again, I knew one guy who had so much fibrous tissue buildup in his bladder that they had to stick a fibre optic tube up his dick (local anesthetic only) and literally Toto-router his bladder to restore some capacity.
Unfortunately it's only temporary. But better than wearing a catheter all the time.
Seriously, something's not right if this has been going on long enough that you think it's normal at your age. As the guy on Seinfeld said, Be a man, but the purse, s/buy the purse/get it checked/.
Or if it's an enlarged prostate you could wait until it's Depends time.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 12 2020, @02:23PM
Indeed, I'm going to turn 40 later this year and I've seen no changes to either my need to urinate or defecate over the past few decades. Well, that's not true, both of those are far better than they were when I was in my 20s.
Eventually,that will likely change, but I can't imagine that's going to change quickly enough that I'm getting up every night if I quit drinking an hour or two before bedtime. The body does degrade over time due to wear and tear and the effects of entropy, but a lot of these "age related" maladies are the result of failing to take care of the body over the course of an entire life. Just minor things can lead to issues cropping up over time. A bit of the wrong kind of cholesterol too frequently over decades and it can line the cardiovascular system. Whereas the right kind of cholesterol at a reasonable rate and you're probably fine.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 12 2020, @02:26PM (1 child)
According to the National Sleep Foundation [sleepfoundation.org], "Studies and surveys have found that 69% of men and 76% of women over age 40 report getting up to go to the bathroom at least once per night."
So I'm going to have to call bullshit on your "it's not normal" crap.
Yes, it can be a sign of a problem. Yes, if you're getting up more than once per night and are under 60, it's more likely to signal an issue. Those issues could be a LOT of different things, though.
But getting up once can be normal, particularly if you're a light sleeper (so you are more likely to just wake up in general, and then you just happen to feel the urge) and/or if you tend to drink fluids in the evening. I personally tend to drink a lot of water during the day in general, including the evenings, and I just have had a practice to have a glass of water by my bed at night since I was a kid. So I drink water. And therefore often get up to pee. It can be as simple as that, idiot.
Stop going around trying to diagnose other people based on ignorance.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 12 2020, @03:21PM
A bullshit statistic i this case - because it also includes people in their 70s,80s.
It increases with age even according to the totally bullshit article , so the numbers in their 40s are going to be MUCH lower.
They certainly won't be zero because of the large numbers of people in their 40s with either diabetes or pre-diabetes. So I'd expect a certain percentage in their 40s to be trying to keep normal sugar levels by pissing away the excess. It works until it doesn't.
He says his blood sugar levels are normal. This brings up the question of how he knows this. An out of date test (more than a year ago)? That can change fast. Or he's just assuming because there are no other symptoms - because that can take a decade or more to show. Or what?
Now as I said, no skin off my nose. Just that I was surprised that nobody raised this point in the original journal. Because it is a cause for concern.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday October 13 2020, @02:17PM
You don't know my life remotely well enough to make that diagnosis. At the very least you would need to factor in my caffeine intake, my allergy pill consumption, flipping in and out of ketosis on a regular basis, the level of my late evening alcohol consumption, and the amount of water I drink to make up for all that. Which is all to say, don't worry your pretty little head over me, I'll be fine.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 12 2020, @01:56AM (6 children)
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Equate-Stay-Awake-Caffeine-Alertness-Aid-Tablets-200-mg-80-Count/10403809 [walmart.com]
This post WAS paid for by Wallmart Corporation.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday October 12 2020, @02:13AM (5 children)
I'll pour my coffee, and sit on the porch to watch the sun come up. You can sit beside me, and suck on your little pill. I think I'll enjoy the sunrise more than you.
Hail to the Nibbler in Chief.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 12 2020, @02:28AM
When the house and the porch is on fire, is when you need your BOB.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 12 2020, @02:56AM (3 children)
The best part of waking up is Folgers in your cup.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday October 12 2020, @01:44PM (2 children)
If you've never tasted better coffee, sure. You don't even need to go coffee snob or spend a bunch of money to get a better cup of coffee than Folgers. Just buy Eight O'Clock [eightoclock.com] instead. It's not much more expensive, you can get it in large or small bags, already ground or beans, and it's vastly superior in taste to the acidic drek in the red cans. And you can find it at most any WalMart if your grocery store of choice doesn't carry it.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 12 2020, @03:36PM (1 child)
I personally pay to have freshly roasted coffee sent to me. It's a bit more than what you'd pay in the grocery store, but it's well worth it. There's really no comparison between freshly roasted coffee and the stuff that doesn't have a roasted on date to indicate just how stale it is.
Yes, I'm definitely a bit of a snob, but once you've had the good stuff, it can be a bit of a challenge to go back.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday October 13 2020, @02:23PM
I can and do appreciate a really good set of beans but I'm far from a snob. I mean, I don't have to have Jamaican Blue Mountain beans that have been through anything's digestive tract within the past three hours and ground thirty seconds before water hit them. I just happen to think red can Folgers is stomach curdling, acidic garbage compared to quite a few brands you'll find in most stores for twice the price or less.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 12 2020, @02:05AM (6 children)
The best coffee is Turkish coffee. Espresso can be good, but it requires skill as well as decent equipment. Frech press coffee comes next.
In all cases, you just got up, you are all groggy, no energy/time to make a decent cup/pot of coffee - by the time you got the coffee made, you are mostly awake and the coffee doesn't give you the mental jolt it is supposed to.
The ideal solution is have a good woman make it for you. Optionally, she might even be good for other things, too.
(Score: 3, Funny) by c0lo on Monday October 12 2020, @03:31AM (2 children)
An ugly woman cooks meals on time
And she'll always give you peace of mind
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 12 2020, @04:20AM (1 child)
I hear they clean house and do laundry and buncha other stuff.
Fake news, right?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 12 2020, @05:10AM
Right. Just extra budget for cosmetics.
(Score: 1) by nostyle on Monday October 12 2020, @05:38AM (1 child)
Stumble out of bed, grind the beans (15 seconds), pack the portafilter (30 seconds), run the espresso machine (20 seconds). Sixty-five seconds to a cup of coffee when you have it on a timer to pre-heat. Enjoy!
Still the first cup absolutely _must_ have a spoon of raw sugar. I'm unclear how they don't understand this.
And what do they consider breakfast - tastes vary wildly. My favorite is a half-kilo of grapes (or other fruit). Some days it's three fried eggs. Sometimes it's nothing but toast and coconut oil. The trick is limiting it to a single food that my body handles well. No sign of diabetes here.
---
The woman might be up in an hour or two, however her job is to remind me (often) of my many faults. In forty-six years, give or take a sabbatical year here and there, she has never failed in her duty.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 12 2020, @02:26PM
You're better off waiting on the coffee until you're mostly awake. Coffee doesn't make you more awake, it makes you less sleepy. I wait until somewhere between 8 and 10 am to drink my coffee as I can enjoy it and get more out of the actual caffeine. Speaking of which, it's time to warm up the machine.
Tea, especially green, will actually wake you up.The antioxidants will somewhat clear up the brain fog, the EGCG will temporarily boost metabolism and the caffeine will clear up the drowsiness.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday October 12 2020, @01:23PM
It's safer to get up before her and make it yourself. That way she doesn't have to be awake without coffee.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by bradley13 on Monday October 12 2020, @05:29AM (4 children)
This has less to do with coffee and more to do with breakfast. Maybe you shouldn't have sugar for breakfast. This speaks mostly to people eating commercial cereal, which has a shocking amount of sugar in it.
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 2) by istartedi on Monday October 12 2020, @09:47AM
Ding ding ding! We have a winner. It's like they're telling us to put on our life jackets before jumping overboard. Unless it's sinking, why not just stay in the boat?
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 2) by shortscreen on Monday October 12 2020, @10:05AM (2 children)
Depends on the cereal. Store brand equivalent of Cheerios has 4g of sugar. Apple Jacks has five times that.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Monday October 12 2020, @01:53PM
4g of sugar is about 3g too high.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 15 2020, @10:24AM
"Depends on the cereal. Store brand equivalent of Cheerios has 4g of sugar."
The processed, refined carbs used to manufacture Cheerios is nearly the equivalent of eating sugar.
(Score: 2) by looorg on Monday October 12 2020, @10:01AM (2 children)
Can't we make some kind of deal that I drink it during breakfast instead of after or before -- I'll be ok with only say half the health benefit. Cause eating a dry breakfast just ain't my thing.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 12 2020, @11:07AM (1 child)
I like to pour a triple espresso into my muesli.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 12 2020, @08:19PM
Haven't tried coffee in muesli, but other options that work (to some degree) besides milk/milk-substitutes include: water, yogurt and even OJ, isn't bad at all.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Dr Spin on Monday October 12 2020, @11:03AM
I have coffee before and after breakfast.
Warning: Opening your mouth may invalidate your brain!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 12 2020, @02:42PM (1 child)
You know what often causes a "bad night's sleep"? Too much caffeine consumption during the day.
I know in this study they artificially woke people up during the night. But in the real world, one common cause of poor sleep is consuming too much caffeine, which can screw up your sleep cycles. Even if you're not drinking it right before bedtime.
Note that the summary doesn't mention anything about a benefit for consuming the coffee. Those who didn't drink coffee at all didn't have different metabolic effects even with the bad night's sleep. This is basically just a way to avoid a problem you don't need in the first place.
Personal note: I've never had a strong coffee/caffeine habit, but in my early 30s, I started to get really sensitive to caffeine. So I just stopped. I'll occasionally have a cup of caffeinated coffee as a treat (because I like the taste) maybe once per month or so, and only in the late mornings when it's unlikely to influence any sleep issues.
Since then, I sleep better, feel better in the mornings, and walk around puzzled at so many people complaining when they didn't have their "third cup" or whatever by 9am when they're at work. Studies have shown that those addicted to caffeine actually merely get a "return to baseline" in cognitive performance from their morning caffeine hit -- they don't perform better than those who simply don't consume caffeine at all. (Whereas those who rarely consume caffeine do get a positive cognitive boost on the rare occasion if they really want it.)
Seriously -- why put yourself at a disadvantage? Just stop the caffeine addiction in general. It could be bad for a few days -- maybe a week -- but it's a waste of time/energy/money. I do miss the taste of coffee sometimes, but an occasional cup every couple weeks can be a nice treat, and I'll make sure it's a nice cup rather than the sludge I see coworkers pour down their throats just to feel "normal."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 12 2020, @05:05PM
Exactly this. The human body will aim for homeostasis and will adapt to daily driving forces like morning caffeine routines.