@@umityayla5051 no the literal translation is something like "under coffee" meaning something for the coffee to land on inside the stomach, therefore not upsetting it.
I'm used to someone on a cooking show going "I've prepared something in advance", but "I just so happen to have the necessary medical device implanted in my arm" is on a whole other level xD
But it's entirely the other way around: I happen to have this costly dongle dangling off my body, what can I read about to more thoroughly stress-kitten my self-absorbed metabolic paranoia? I happen to like this stuff, because I prefer to outsource my stress-kitten anomalies, but that doesn't change the nature of the beast.
I really appreciate James' ability to make it clear that this is an interesting topic and his findings and opinions should not be taken as infallible. I wish more content creators had this level of awareness and respect of their viewers.
As a person with Type 1 diabetes who wears a continuous glucose monitor, I can absolutely corroborate these spikes. As James said, everyone’s body responds differently, but if I drink coffee before or after breakfast, my spikes are calmer. The diabetic’s relationship to coffee is complex, especially the diabetic barista. It was just nice to see other people discussing this issue.
I have gnarly dawn phenomenon. My basal requirements skyrocket at 4:45AM and slowly calm down by 12PM. Coffee will spike me. But it's a slow spike more akin to a basal increase. Interesting that he got a CGM for this. But he's also not trained. I just wonder how this will effect non diabetics who will see virtually no increase in glucose levels from coffee because it's a slow spike?
The thing is, was the coffee drank black, or with sugar and/or cream? I wonder if adding sugar or cream can affect the outcomes of insulin spikes from coffee, especially milk since it seemed that protein could cause a lower spike in insulin, and milk has a little protein in it.
@@spoolspool6278 It is very easy. Go to a drug store and expect to spend about $50 for the reader and $100 for the sensor that lasts 2 weeks (Canadian pricing in case that makes a difference). Comes with instructions and everything you need. Only takes a few minutes (and most of that time is waiting for the alcohol on your arm to dry off, from the alcohol swab that comes with it as well, or it won't stick and is ruined). Essentially painless. No prescription required (but health insurance may cover it if you have a prescription). The one he is using appears to be a Freestyle Libra, but there are other brands as well.
I'm a Pharmacologist from the University of Edinburgh (also about to start a PhD) with a lot of training in endocrinology, diet, diabetes and cardiovascular disease etc and this video is a perfect example of heterogeneity across different groups of people - I talk about diet, blood sugar, insulin, fasting etc with so many people I know and they don't understand why I give them advice that I don't even follow myself because I already know how my body responds to certain foods, diets and eating habits etc. It's such an interesting topic so I can see how you got invested and ended up getting yourself the blood glucose monitor!
@@zoukon I wouldn't say biased, I definitely think it makes it less applicable to real world scenarios though, as James described. The glucose test they used is common in diabetes research and even clinical diabetes tests so I imagine they just decided to use it so that their research was comparable to other publications involving blood sugar
@@zoukon Ehhh... Very much depends on the person and their habits (which was at least partially the point of the video). Things like a 580 calorie Mc Donald's pancake breakfast exist.
The study also says dont drink coffee IMMEDIATELY before breakfast (i cant remember the exact time as I read it a while ago but its either within 30 min or an hour), their caffeine dosage is also insane as James mentioned
Other youtubers: Giveaway is US & CA only, suck it James: If you're not in one of the 37 countries the manufacturer can reach I'm really sorry and I'm trying to find a way around that Good Sir, I would tip my hat if I had one, don't ever change
@@oskimac They're kind of a pain in the ass, so unless you have diabetes and need to be monitoring your levels that frequently (or have trouble with the regular testing method), it's really not worth it. Firstly, you need a prescription, so again, if you don't actually have diabetes you'd need to give a good reason as to why you want it for a doctor to write one for you. Additionally they can be really pricey, but even more-so if you don't have diabetes as insurance almost certainly would not cover the cost, so it'd be all out of pocket. Secondly, they're a pain because they fall out/off pretty easily. My uncle had one because he's super active and wanted to be able to read his levels quickly while out and about on hikes without having to get his whole kit out. But he had trouble getting it to stay in because he was so active. They're supposed to stay on for 14 days but he could only manage to get one to stay in for about half that time. He just found it wasn't worth it. I understand why you're interested though, I would be interested in trying it (if it had fewer drawbacks than it does) just to see. I don't have diabetes or even pre-diabetes, but it would be interesting to know how my body is functioning. Sometimes I test my blood sugar just to see what it's at so I understand. Haha 😅
@@---nobody--- i have a friend. She is always picking his stomach with that devices like pens. And counting units of shugar i think. Its no life. I was searching for him. Thanks
@@---nobody--- They're on amazon in the UK, so no prescription needed. They cost about £55 per sensor, so yeah fairly expensive but not so much that you can't get one to play with. If you need them continuously though that's going to add up fast.
@@TheAkashicTraveller Yeah I'm a type one diabetic in Australia. Have a subscription with a company that makes these (different brand but the same result) cost $250 aud a month for 5 of them.
It would have been wonderful to have seen a Day Zero (No Coffee, No Breakfast) for baseline and a Day 5 (Breakfast then Coffee) just to give a more rounded idea of how your specific blood glucose mornings fluctuate. Regardless, great work sir thoroughly interesting.
Ideally, you'd want to do each of these spike measurements in (at least) week intervals. You don't know if any difference in results are significant until you know what the standard deviations are. To get that, you need sets of identical tests. The more, the better.
Hey, James. I’m a fellow blood enthusiast (and a cognitive psychology student). Turns out the same ingredient (such as oats) can cause different blood sugar and insulin spikes in different forms. For example, the glycemic index of steel-cut oatmeal averages under 55, falling in the low GI category, but instant oatmeal is estimated to have a high GI of 79, even though there’s no sugar added, and instant oats are technically whole foods. This is mostly because when oat groats are processed to be rolled oats or instant oats, their strong plant cell walls are ruptured open, allowing the intracellular contents (mostly starch) to be more easily absorbed, and resulting in an exaggerated blood sugar spike and insulin response. This is also why drinking a smoothie can cause a bigger spike than eating the foods themselves; smoothies just take so much less time to consume, and blenders do a much better job of shredding foods than human teeth do. So from an insulin standpoint, intact whole foods are generally more friendly than highly processed ones. You can check out these papers to get a more precise explanation: Mackiem, A. R., Bajka, B. H., & Rigby, N. M. (2017). Oatmeal particle size alters glycemic index but not as a function of gastric emptying rate. American Journal of Physiology-Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology, 313(3), G239-G246. Grundy, M. M., Edwards, C. H., Mackie, A. R., Gidley, M. J., Butterworth, P. J., & Ellis, P. R. (2016). Re-evaluation of the mechanisms of dietary fibre and implications for macronutrient bioaccessibility, digestion and postprandial metabolism. British Journal of Nutrition, 116(5), 816-833. (Oh right, love your channel!)
@@emmeli5492 Yeah, the science checks out. Personally I do feel fuller for longer eating steel cut oats or oat groats compared to instant oats. You can experiment with it.
@@jessicahall3717 Considering how oat milk is made (with most fibers removed), it probably doesn't have quite a low GI. I guess you can see it as oat juice...? (I do love oat milk latte though. 😆)
Nutrition student here: You would need to drink water equal the the amount of coffee for day 1. While you had the same amount of carbohydrates, the difference in volume means it takes longer time for your stomach to pass on all the carbohydrates to be absorbed in your intestine. Like wise, protein and fat also increases the time your stomach needs to empty (also increasing total volume, again also increasing the time for gastric emptying). Otherwise cool video :)
This is super interesting, I even thought about it slightly because of how the curves were distributed on the other ones, hinting toward a more distributed spike, rather than a smaller one.
I agree that matching fluid intake would be better. Though the peak and trough timepoints weren't too different for day 1 and 2... the coffee does add volume but it wouldn't add bulk and so may not be hugely altering transit time. It's definitely one of several changes James could make to make things a little more controlled. It would be interesting comparing habitual vs non habitual caffeine consumption on non consecutive days and then with a wash out period to see and then run again
They left out a group. They had rested/no coffee, unrested/coffee, and unrested/coffee. But to round out the test there should have been a rested/coffee group.
I would have liked to see a protein & fat breakfast in this study. It's well known that you should break your fast with protein and fat for the very reason of a glucose spike. Would be interesting to see the results.
If it's good, you don't need a lot. I could scarf down three pounds of cheap dollar store milk chocolate and not feel satisfied, but a single square of a high-quality dark will do me for the day.
@@KeithOlson Hi. Good point. Long ago I found that about beef, but I forgot. Let me suggest baking chocolate. I think it's terrific, though sometimes I melt it and mix in some stevia... And then pour it over walnut halves or pieces. ...but I digress.
As someone who also doesn't eat breakfast, but who typically drinks coffee before I have my first meal of the day, I would've been interesting in how that kind of graph would look. I don't have a continuous blood glucose monitor of my own, so I can't do it myself.
I have taken snapshots with test strips and coffee does raise my blood sugar quite a bit (especially really strong coffee)! Haven't tested the whole coffee and breakfast hypothesis, though. I also drink coffee and skip breakfast, so I'm sure it's fine 🙂
They cost a bit, and only last for up to two weeks before needing to be replaced. They also might fall off before the two weeks are up if not protected carefully. So they are not a one time buy.
WRONG. Scientists say, "Our research is ... pointless..." Where ... = "often perceived as being" Without the ellipses you're just another person who quotes wrongly.
@@dreamervanroom I do tend to make a mess of anything with words on it. It just doesn't appeal top me if my books or phone aren't covered in bits of my dinner.
James, I love so much that you have taken a scientific study and applied it to real life. As someone who practices nutritional medicine, It always bothers me to see scientific studies like the one you describe. Nobody has pure glucose for breakfast. Even the worst, most sugary cereals contain a small amount of fibre, which completely alters the speed at which sugar will enter the bloodstream. The protein tidbit is a fabulous intervention and one I wish I saw recommended by diabetic educators more in Australia, where I live.
It's hard to say without looking at the exact numbers, but with something like this the delta is what's important. It would be interesting to see the graph of the derivatives
I love you for the way you are communicating. The way you explained why you did this and how this isn't necessary for everyone and in no way necessary to obsess about is amazing.
I love that you’re legitimately careful to qualify scientific statements and studies. You’re also very good at taking a scientific approach to your tests. It’s appreciated, and makes me like your (amazing) channel all the much more.
Every video I appreciate your character and honesty more and more. I don't usually comment on any video but I must let you know that I appreciate you sharing all your experience and knowledge. I started a few months ago with my french press and finding your instructions greatly improved my cups. I assume this comment will be lost since this video is months old, but this video just emphasized what I respect about you from your videos. I am sure that your views and subscribers say this louder than I do, but I greatly appreciate what you put out into the world and must thank you for it. Please take care, the world need more of your energy out there for years to come.
If I drink enough coffee when I don’t have a tolerance I feel like I’m literally flying when I walk down the street, I think people who drink coffee every day only experience the more mild effects.
As an exercise physiologist who understands insulin response post prandial and gives advice to patients regularly. Well done on A) your unbiased reporting of data B) your clarity of reporting information and other health based knowledge, and knowing where to stop with health advice C) Realising that everyone is indeed different, a MASSIVE factor the media in particular doesn't consider with respect to research.
Can I hire you to help me lose my last bit of body fat while simultaneously not wrecking my body as I train to ruck (not run!) a marathon? I'm having a lot of trouble getting the right balance of eating enough to recover without getting excess calories. Doesn't help that I'm 43.
@@Oberon4278 Hi, different exercise physiologist here. You don't actually want super low fat for marathons. Marathon runners generally have average or higher than average fat. You cannot sustain yourself through a marathon on carbohydrates. Just isn't happening. You generally have 400-800g of glycogen (carbs) which is about 1600 calories, not all of which are available. A marathon costs 1600-2600 calories (rough estimate). So the real answer is probably that you're fine but without basically giving a personalized session I can't say more than that.
@@eoghanmyers2330 Well, the marathon is over now. I carried a lot of those little gel packs and ate one every two miles. Now that it's over I am never subjecting myself to that misery again. So is it quicker and easier for your body to translate body fat into energy than dietary carbs? Or is that not what you were saying in your response?
@@Oberon4278 carbohydrate is absolutely faster to utilise than fat and if you take in glucose throughout your exercise that can be fine, but what I was saying is that your body can't store enough carbs to fuel a marathon. Fat is an important part of a marathon and most feelings of fatigue are caused by low carb. You can stay at an exercise intensity that burns predominantly fat and doesn't cause your body to produce excessive lactic acid. In theory you can run at this intensity for as long as your fat stores last, which is a very very long time. The average male has enough fat to do 23 marathons
@@eoghanmyers2330 I must have been able to hit that pace naturally then, because I found that at about a fifteen minute mile (again, carrying a 35lb backpack, not running.) Not a leisurely pace, but not killing myself either, and I could do that all day.
That is also what I am thinking. The body is a great fan of stable patterns in eating habits. James said the publication participants had abstained from coffee before the test. As a result, their bodies did not expect coffee and produced a bigger spike. James is not used to any breakfast so the unexpected porridge would give him a large spike.
I was hoping for a statistical average of measurements. He could do a second video doing the four days in the reverse sequence to see if the results are the same, then average the two.
As an endocrinologist I applaud your approach and scientific method (and I absolutely love your channel). You are also quite accurate in describing oGTT, however it should also be clarified that capillary blood glucose does not accurately reflect venous glucose levels, and, as you state, no real conclusions can be drawn from a single experiment conducted in a single individual. Thanks for the amazing content, I will go check the study.
This is very interesting, I suffer from Hashimoto's and had the device mentioned in the vid for two weeks. I've seen very little spiking throughout the period and some rather odd behaviour, like sugar going up when I was going through periods of hunger / severe lack of energy. I always wondered if these monitors are perhaps useless for people like me.
The study is indeed interesting, although some choices regarding sample size and the statistical analyses puzzle me. The amount of caffeine employed appears arbitrary as well, and the sleep disruption protocol is possibly distant from common pathophysiology (and the methodology of most other sleep-disruption studies). As far as the conclusions I feel they are just speculations that do not fully take into account the lack of an association with caffeine metabolism, nor much can be said about cortisol release since the authors did not assess its levels. Overall interesting, but not that convincing; further studies are definitely needed.
@@tomjagiello5119 Yes, they are. Continuous glucose monitoring is clinically indicated only in some subjects affected by diabetes mellitus, or for research purposes.
“But then I also don’t hold any qualifications in coffee.” *coughs in world’s largest coffee tasting, barista championship, and the cause of 95% of my and countless others’ love for coffee*
I would have liked to see how similar two spikes look to each other when having an identical breakfast on different days :) i.e. how reproducible they are
I think we're all taking the fact that James presents everything he researches in such a brilliant way for granted - this man always makes sure his sources (coffee or whatever information it might be) are only from credible ones, and it's a delight to see! I think this is why many can watch any of his videos even without any interest in coffee, he's just that good at presenting information in a very succinct yet engaging way, an inspiration for sure!
This ended up being surprisingly interesting and relevant to me as a type 1 diabetic, as the glucose spikes are something I battle with every day! I also find it funny how you revieal to be using a Freestyle Libre only a few weeks after I started using it myself! Good stuff James, thank you!
ZOE Health Study echos your findings. Most cereals/porridge really bad for glucose spikes. And exercise after meals also really good at controlling blood glucose.
I’m a type 2 diabetic and been following very low carb diet and check my blood glucose twice a day. I don’t have breakfast and I have coffee with a splash of cream around 11am (no spike in blood glucose) then have bacon and eggs fried in butter around 1pm no spike in blood glucose when tested at 30, 60 and 90 minutes 👍🏼
@@barbsdee3831 That's a fair amount of physical activity, if not formal exercise. Do you do it before coffee and breakfast, after coffee but before breakfast, or after both?
@@barbsdee3831 I'm just curious because I walk about 40 minutes most days and/or workout at home (weights, yoga, pilates) but I do it before my coffee or tea, and then I delay my breakfast until a couple of hours after the caffeinated beverages. I've not been a breakfast eater since high-school, by choice, because food first thing makes me sluggish and even nauseous and I just don't feel hungry early in the day. The exercise kick starts my metabolism and gets me going for the day.
It would be interesting to see a graph of an extra trial where you consume a sugary, milky coffee drink instead of breakfast, so that your glucose spike happens around the same time that your caffeine begins to kick in. I can't imagine it being much different than the coffee>breakfast graph, but so many people consume coffee in this manner that it's worth testing.
I took part in this study when I was at the University of Bath, very interesting to see someone discussing it from a coffee-lover's perspective. Surprised by the 'protein significantly reducing blood glucose spike' result as I conducted an almost identical study with opposite results (which I am aware was in disagreement with the majority of literature on the topic but is interesting nonetheless). Thanks for the video bud!
I would wonder if the butter had a bigger impact on the longer, flatter spike. In general carbs cause a high and short spike in glucose , protein in between, and fat a longer lasting but very mild rise.
@@scubble10 i would have guessed that the protein would have provoked an insulin response already, which would eleminate the usual delay between glucose uptake and insulin response, hence giving less time for the glucose level to rise, consequently stopping the glucose levels to spike extremely
Love the n=1 experiment report! It really demonstrates how you need to personalize and test your nutrition, not just assume that the science on it is universal.
I tend to dismiss studies in general until enough research has been done to warrant my attension. I am diabetic and tend to test my blood often. I too find that porridge is lethal to my blood sugar levels, as is whole grains in general. The diabetic groups tend to recommend such things to be part of a healthy diet. My body says no, not a good idea at all.
I am diabetic as well, and I can't tolerate a ton of carbs now. Carbs, no matter how they are eaten, are turned into sugar in the body.. hence the need for insulin to convert the sugar to fat. I eat low carb, but not super low carb (I can't afford it anymore on my food budget), but decided to eat low carb, and incorporate potatoes and legumes into my diet. Lots of micronutrients and fibre in the foods, and potatoes make you feel full faster.
No not a good idea. Im diabetic too. That’s why i stick to green leafy veggies, protein. Im asian so i looooove rice. I just try to eat it once a day though, but if ever i do eat rice, i eat it with lots of greens. I find that it doesn’t raise my blood sugar as much, almost similar to eating no sugar or carbs at all. Ive done keto and that really does wonders but is also hard to stick to. Ive dine low carb and found that it really works for me, sure the results arent as good as keto but immfine with it. I still eat a bit of carbs (aka rice lol) because that makes me happy. And it helps me stay on the diet. I just make sure to fast more when i do eat a lot in a day. Im now regular in all my diabetic tests.
I was diagnosed with diabetes some years ago. Never did get to the point of using insulin though. Then came keto and eventually ketovore almost 5 years ago. No meds and blood glucose has been normal since. Now if I started to eat bread, grains, sweets, starchy veg, I expect I’d be right back to diabetes.
I remember reading this article a few weeks ago. Didn't they also use foods that were high in sugar? Adding things like orange juice etc. is going to spike your glucose no matter what.
You are correct about oj. All carbohydrates increase your glucose. Increasing your glucose is called spiking your glucose (blood glucose). So I checked to find out what happens to your glucose with a protein-fat only meal. That has no response and neither does protein. Here's an article that discusses the issue. Please note the respectable source of the information. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9416027/
Iirc, both groups had orange juice and they compared whether the glucose spike was higher for the group who had coffee, so they can measure the effect of coffee alone
@@Tony2dH did they baseline those people without coffee? I’m not aware if certain foods or sugar intake spike peoples glucose in different ways it seems unlikely that everyone would have the same spike but I could be wrong
I wonder about what people added to the *coffee*. Seems like nobody would actually want to drink a big cup of Nescafe black. Even if the participants claimed to, how did they correct for people lying about their coffee? Did this all happen in the lab?
Hey James - as a type 1 diabetic, with a CGM ( I use Dexcom - get 5 min intervals on my BG ) - one of the biggest things that change with your experiment is time. Part of the reason why the sleep study was interesting and part of the results is due to your physiology - is what's called the dawn phenomenon. This is where your body is releasing cortisol (as you stated) in the early morning and your ability for your body to quickly counteract the glucose is reduced. How I sleep and when I sleep or am restless at night directly affects my dawn phenomenon/insulin resistance in the morning. I see this nearly every day of my life now - and what's more interesting is the "strength" of the glucose hit when I drink coffee (or eat) closer to the time I wake up and the time I consume my first coffee or even lower carb breakfast ( sub 10 carb ). I have a ton of examples that are way too long for a YT comment section, but, lets say I wake up at 5:30am. If I walk directly to my Decent machine and pull a shot, I have to dose (my insulin) for nearly 20g of carbs to counteract the spike I'm about to get. If I wait say 30 mins, I'd have to dose for the same shot I would have had at 5:40a, and move that to 6:10a, I'd have to dose myself about 12g of carbs worth of insulin. Move it out to say, 8 am... and I'd have to dose for 0 carbs. When I exercise early(er) in the morning, I can cut that cortisol spike to nearly zero. Wake up, exercise (yes, ok, burning glucose and such, as it appears you know -- but!) I can then dose for 0 carbs for the rest of my coffee's for the rest of the day.
This is super interesting. Also a T1D. Gotta admit that I'm terrible with taking insulin before around noon (pen no pump) but I haven't really found coffee to change my BG. I sleep pretty well most nights (new mattress) so that may be a reason, but I'm definitely hit hard by the dawn phenomenon most days. If I don't get my basal in early, which I usually don't, I'll skyrocket up to around 200 (US) in just a few minutes regardless of how it was before. Super interesting how everyone's bodies are so different. I use a libre. Cheers!
@@dyj321 Get on a pump and CGM at whatever cost. It's worth it. If you are in any way technically inclined, research OpenAPS or Loop. Loop has changed my life in so many ways as a diabetic it's indescribable.
@@chrisjohnson583 when I'm on a schedule I do really well, I just get busy and completely forget to even look at my BG. I guess a CGM and pump would help with that... Eventually I'm sure. Pretty satisfied with the libre at the moment, but will definitely will look at a good system when I decide to switch. Will definitely look up loop and OpenAps. Might move me to a pump!
Interesting stuff! I am wondering myself about exercise first as I always walk the dog before breakfast or coffee. (No yard to let her out and seems cruel to make her wait)
I’m a type 1 diabetic and I literally just got off the phone with my diabetic clinician where we were trying to pin point the reasons behind my spikes. I always have a CGM on (at no cost to me- god bless the NHS). I have definitely been drinking more coffee in the mornings during lockdown. I’m not going to treat anything in the video as an alternative to clinical advice of course, but it’s certainly interesting and I’ll keep an eye out for it. Obviously the huge variable is that I’m dependent upon insulin injections so my body doesn’t make its own adjustments. They’re always fascinating these videos, keep up the good work James!
I was thinking the exact same thing myself. T1D nhs gang represent. Wish I could get a CGM in my region though, my control is genuinely terrible even with like 8 tests a day.
As a T2 diabetic, thank you for bringing this up so that people like me will know to investigate further then run our own tests because, as you definitely stress, we're all different. Genetically speaking, some us (hi!) have a higher tolerance for caffeine (somehow...magic, maybe?), so there's that, too. We're all different but we need to know in what ways that difference affects us so that we can "control our own destinies" as best we can. Thanks!
There are some superb doctors on youtube, who know a ton about T2 diabetes and how to reverse it. The drug cartel just want to keep you on their drugs....and most doctors are happy to keep you as a life-long cash cow.
not only everyone is different, each individual is different from himself in different days as a consequence of a multitude of factors, such as sleep quantity and quality, nutrition etc
PLEASE DO ANOTHER VIDEO! - For completeness and because you mentioned you sometimes skip breakfast - Would be very interested to know what happens to your blood sugar, if you drink coffee then have no breakfast with no exercise versus coffee no breakfast and the exercise. Could you give us your results?
I can tell you that having coffee with exercise and no breakfast causes zero insulin spike, because you don't produce insulin like that on an empty stomach (or if you only have a bit of fat and protein with no carbs first thing). I've lost 75 pounds in the last year and vastly improved my insulin sensitivity by just not doing anything to make my body make insulin for the first half of the day (I was right on the edge of type 2 diabetese and reversed it back down to near-healthy levels in about 8 months).
This really resonates with things I already intuitively know! I've always felt super hungry on days when I get poor sleep (less than 6 hours) and blood glucose spikes make so much sense as an explanation. Also, people always seem to talk about how oatmeal is super filling but for me it's always felt only slightly better than sugary breakfast cereal unless I add a lot of fat and/or protein, so seeing how high those spikes were with just oatmeal (with or without the coffee) was really interesting. I bet my body is treating the carbs similarly but others might not get quite as high of a spike
I have been absolutely loving these vintage intro's!!! They remind me of the Stranger Things intro! Also just wanted to say that over the years I have been seeing the quality of your video's (and especially your editing) go up!
I’m very much in love with this kind of studies, where glucose spikes get reduced. Loved how the co-relation with coffee was actually derived to the meal
Coffee is my go to breakfast with grass fed butter and teaspoon of teaspoon of unrefined coconut oil....ear a low card,or no carb lunch and dinner, at 2pm 5pm.
I think you/James should have done the experiment for at least a month (where you kept the same routine for at least 1 week) before concluding that the results of the paper do not match your case. The body may be affected by other factors, and even by what you did the day before. There are a ton of factors in place here, so that is why I think you should have measured the glucose levels over a week, and then calculate the average glucose levels over time for every case (introducing a shaded area denoting some statistical variation such as medians or std dev over time). Another thing: it would have made sense to add in the graph the typical time for breakfast and exercise to compare the glucose changes with the related activities. This is not critical, but would have been interesting. Anyway, very nice little experiment! I would love to have the device and test how to control my glucose levels.
Yes, just repeating the same procedure on different occasions would bring a lot of value here. I'm no physician, but could it e.g. be a factor that he's not a breakfast person (he said that he typically doesn't eat breakfast), causing a larger reaction to the breakfast initially, then less and less as the body grows accustomed to it?
I agree. I am diabetic and there are a lot of factors other than food that affect blood sugar. For me, coffee has never been an issue and also for me taking a walk after meals def helps keep blood sugar spikes down. These are things you learn over years of testing yourself though.
Totally. My wife uses a Dexcom CGM and has very good control of her blood sugar. Going up to 10+ wouldn't be considered out of the ordinary after a meal.
Didn't hear of the study til now, and what was the most interesting discovery for me was the impact of protein on blood glucose levels. It's crazy that "a guy talking about coffee on youtube" goes to great lengths not only to talk about coffee, but about how culture and science intertwine the balance of regular life. Thank you so much for doing what you're doing - it's a fascinating adventure.
That was fascinating to me - particularly the bit about day four and how it affected you - but honestly: I would be very interested to see a video from you about the effects of drinking coffee early in the day, without eating. I've rarely eat breakfast myself these days, but tend to have a cup of coffee (8oz), and sometimes a little bit of dark chocolate. I'm curious why you choose not to eat breakfast, and how it relates to your early coffee drinking habits.
James chose both to eat breakfast and to not eat breakfast to mimic the two groups in the scientific test. His breakfast food was the imitation of the glucose that the doctor is used in the test.
James, I'm loving watching your filmmaking skills mature. You could legitimately make a full scale, high quality documentary/movie. Keep it up! I would watch pretty much anything you make at this point, coffee related or not!
Your adherence to real scientific principles and encouraging people's own reading of legitimate sources is just 1 of several thousand reasons why you represent all that is good about youtube
Drinking coffee during or after a meal reduces significantly our ability to absorb non-heme iron from food, due to the tannins present in coffee. For that it would be better to drink coffee at least ~ 1/2 hour before your meal.
Well I can tell you only from my own experience, I feel a lot better if I eat breakfast before having a coffee. No idea if this has anything to do with my blood-glucose levels though.
Love the scientific aspect of this video! We seem to have a similar sense of humor, I've had a parallel Kevin show up in three of my episodes already! Thanks for the video and going in to the details!
Thank you for the knowledge. For me personally, if I don't have coffee first thing in the morning, I can't prepare breakfast. I guess it was born of habit because my mom, my ajnts and pretty much everyone I know are like that.
You think you can't. I was the same. Once you are in a situation of no caffeine (or no food) for several days all of a sudden you realise it's all relative. Aren't we funny like that
Not much to be honest. This whole thing is over hyped. I've been using a CGM for 6 years. My insulin requirements barely go up doing any of those in order.
Just came to mention it. My stomach thanks me everytime I patiently wait and finish a warm omelette before I have my cup of joe. I also try to wait at least 30 minutes after every meal for iron to settle in. Though, if I have a big Turkish breakfast spread, I’d definetely go with Turkish coffee in a big cup.
@@Cazu_Orddu_Medea lol if your Turkish coffee results in a big cup, either you are having more than one cup, or the coffee isn't prepared the Turkish way :)
I always eat big early. I’m not even hungry when “lunch time” comes around. I drink coffee early, too and never again until the next day. I take all my supplements with that first meal (after). This help helps me to not be sleepy, improves my mood and makes my work day much more tolerable. I eat a light dinner and avoid cheese close to bed time. If a food item makes me gassy or sleepy i stop eating it. I avoid bread. I no longer drink alcohol or smoke. No one asked but i feel healthy from all this.
My name is Yoshikage Kira. I'm 33 years old. My house is in the northeast section of Morioh, where all the villas are, and I am not married. I work as an employee for the Kame Yu department stores, and I get home every day by 8 PM at the latest. I don't smoke, but I occasionally drink. I'm in bed by 11 PM, and make sure I get eight hours of sleep, no matter what. After having a glass of warm milk and doing about twenty minutes of stretches before going to bed, I usually have no problems sleeping until morning. Just like a baby, I wake up without any fatigue or stress in the morning. I was told there were no issues at my last check-up. I'm trying to explain that I'm a person who wishes to live a very quiet life. I take care not to trouble myself with any enemies, like winning and losing, that would cause me to lose sleep at night. That is how I deal with society, and I know that is what brings me happiness. Although, if I were to fight I wouldn't lose to anyone.
Well that was a lot to unpack James! I was recently diagnosed with Type II Diabetes and was actively encouraged to have breakfast every day Where as before and for all of my adult life I didn't eat breakfast apart from on the holidays, such as Xmas and Easter. The effects on my blood glucose were horrendous for the entire time I was eating breakfast, They were supposed to help reduce my levels for the day with healthy eating. I have since done an experiment, where I stopped eating breakfast but maintained my morning dose of coffee. Surprisingly my blood glucose levels maintained there average levels through till lunchtime, with maybe a 0.4 point drop during the morning. I then spent the next week eating breakfast again but with out coffee, and oh my word! My blood glucose levels went all over the place, going high and staying high or worse going high and then dropping below pre-breakfast levels rapidly in an hour. I have since gone back to drinking just my coffee in the morning and will have lunch instead. Overall my blood glucose levels have now levelled out over the last six months and I am feeling much better for it. Keep up the great videos James! Always a pleasure to watch!
I'll take a guess that it sounds like James is into fasting! That's actually part of the reason I got into coffee (besides this channel). When the only flavor you can enjoy is coffee for a day, you tend to care more about it's quality.
The problem is the Carbs and Sugar!!!! But if your breakfast is eggs and bacon then you should be fine! So for anyone who is following Keto or Carnivore they don’t have to worry about glucose spikes or insulin resistance!
This is a particularly interesting video for me. I was beginning to suspect a common interest (then I looked at your links re blood glucose)...such as a ketogenic interest. And it seems so ;-) . For me, since I also do IF (intermittent fasting) and because by nature I have no interest in food in the morning until a late lunch...no morning blood spikes. So...just green tea first thing in the morning and a few hours later the first of my three espressos. The last one being in my local cafe here in Spain...where I get a wonderful crema espresso with a tall cap of foamy milk. I call it a mini capuccino. Great video, thank you!
Your results are the same as mine. Love hearing about your journey with food. I haven’t had breakfast in years, unless you consider two tablespoons of salted butter in your coffee breakfast.
Thanks for the video. I also wonder what role fat played in your protein before carbs, since the hormone CCK is released when eating fat and helps slow digestion.
Coffee can reduce iron absorption as well, which is worth considering if you're relying on iron-fortified breakfast cereals/bread for your iron intake. The articles don't seem to have even mentioned this! For more details, my understanding is that this affects particularly non-haem iron (from plant sources) rather than haem iron (from meat and dairy), and can potentially contribute to iron deficiency anaemia (stated on the NHS website). The particularly influential study is Hurrell et al (1999) "Inhibition of non-haem iron absorption in man by polyphenolic-containing beverages"). Another launching point is this year's Duda-Chodak and Tarko (2023) "Possible Side Effects of Polyphenols and Their Interactions with Medicines". From this I suspect it'll affect fortified breakfasts or even things like spinach more than any iron-rich meat (say bacon and eggs) I suspect this'd be much harder to replicate in an n=1 trial though, and it's obviously beyond the scope of the underlying study here. The results on blood glucose are fascinating nonetheless.
With coffee and meals, as someone that struggles with iron deficiency, I’m more concerned about iron absorption, which falls flat on its face specially on vegetarian/vegan meals that provide mostly non-heme iron.
Would love for you to have Dr. Mike on your channel to talk about the health science of coffee. You and Dr. Mile show a lot of dedication to honesty and credibility in your videos, so I think it’s a perfect collab
I love your presentation and visual style. The subtle details like the second you out of focus in the background or one of the eggs spinning play so well with the focused minimalist aesthetic
This is a simple but relevant video. Lots of people like me are looking for the best way to start their day. For me, working out is something I have always wanted to be able to do in the morning rather than the afternoon. The issue with this is protein intake. Most people consume protein throughout the day, providing a base for going into a workout as well as to add onto with a shake and meal afterwards to maximize recovery and muscle gain. So, trying to workout in the morning means either less protein or no protein going into the session. So, when you add coffee to the mix in the morning, if you spike glucose, it can further complicate digestion, protein intake, and maybe having to stop your workout to take a bathroom break. But, many athletes have coffee anyways, because it is a morning routine thing. So, I guess the real follow up would be, does coffee and carbs or coffee & protein have a negative effect on digestion/protein synthesis? I'll keep looking around for takes on this question. But, this little bit was very good. Thanks!
I have been type 1 diabetic for 54yrs. Yes, black coffee gives me spikes. Exercise is a great tamer for that. Endocrinologist recommends proteins before carb and combine carbs with fat, equal portions of each. I wear a CGM which communicates with my pump. My A1c is 5.7 on the USA method. Try some EVOO with your porridge.
I‘m one of those, who can‘t have coffee on an empty stomach. Tried and tested a few times & I always end up with a migrane, that will last a whole day. I can‘t do anything but sleep it off. That‘s the reason, why I always have my coffee after lunch, when I‘m at my lowest energy.
Very nice presentation . I actually use coffee and light breakfast as part of a pre workout routine: Instant coffee with 1% milk and a little flavored sweetener syrup. Then I have some sort of carbohydrate along the lines of a breakfast biscuit or Pop Tart. Your research shows that I'm setting myself up for a respectable glucose spike. While I'm still cleaning the Pop Tart bits out of my mouth with my tongue , I grab a sport drink and head down into my basement gym for a brief full body workout involving bodyweight, dumbbell, and barbell exercises followed by an equally lengthy yoga cool down. Your research suggests, my workout is "boosted" by that glucose spike and the spike is also equally flattened out by said workout. The yoga happens the same time the spike is fading back to normal. Very enlightening. Thank you for your efforts and contributions.
Your channel is one that makes the whole world a better place by making us all smarter. The overall quality and value of information is off the charts. Thank you!
This was fascinating. I have been working with a dietitian and she said something like when you have breakfast before coffee, coffee is medicine or you are getting more of the benefits that coffee has to offer. When you have coffee first thing, it’s more of a drug. I have been experimenting with this and paying attention to how I feel and out put and what not. I’d have to agree with what you have pointed here in your experience. Our modern diet is perfect for giving everyone diabetes. The majority of us experience before full on diabetes, what is known as INSULIN RESISTANCE. It is very reversible, with diet and lifestyle change. There is a lot of great info about insulin resistance, how to figure out if you have it and how to take lots of small steps to be your best you. I have thought about getting one of those monitors mounted to really dial in my habits, so I can continue to do all that I enjoy into my old age. I’m sharing this with several people now.
“I’m sharing this with several people now.”-Ahh, no better way to start the morning than with the sharing of blood-borne pathogens. In seriousness, though, I’d like to know too; I’ve asked a diabetic family member to give me one of their devices and am curious to see what comes out of it for me. Did you get a chance to try one yet?
Almost spit out my espresso at :33 when Jame’s clone popped in. 🤯 But you know what, what this world needs is definitely more James Hoffmans. Carry on James, carry on.
As a type 1 diabetic who wears a glucose monitor this was a great video! I know that coffee always raises my glucose levels even without sugar because caffeine can raise glucose levels, that doesn’t stop me from drinking coffee though!
Since I took early retirement I’ve more time in the morning, so my morning routine is to make a double espresso. I eat 2 or 3 satsumas before the espresso, I find the acidity of the fruit intensifies the coffee flavour, I then eat a bowl of porridge. I’d love to know how this morning ritual affects my blood glucose levels. Anyway I find it very enjoyable.
Well, caffeine inhibits the teardown of the molecule "CAMP" which is normally activated via adrenalin in the body. This molecule is also being used to tell your liver to teardown the glycogen and start using the glucose which is glycogen made of, and secret it to the bloodstream. This can be one of the reasons they are seeing a spike of glucose after drinking coffee, especially if the person has a high percentage of glycogen in the liver.
Glucose spikes are also different for everyone. I've seen a lot of data from CGMs on non diabetics. Some people spike up to 200 after a meal and some don't go above 120.
@@emceeunderdogrising Depending on the amount of sugar they are taking on the meal. And if their sugar spikes to 200 after a meal, it is a sign to go to the doctor and check it out before it goes worse. I am doing a low carb diet and after a meal not going to more than 77 mg/dl sugar
@@drtechtek2165 The ones that spike to 200 are pre diabetics in most cases. Virtually everyone who has normally functioning pancreatic cells will see virtually no spike. I've seen a lot of data from CGMs in non diabetics. The variability is there. I don't do low carb. I just control with insulin. My A1c has been below 6 for over 15 years. The question here is about coffee which causes relatively no spike at all. Just a slight basal increase in me. A normal person will be perfectly capable of handling a slow spike.
Great work James thanks for all your videos. I’ve recently went on a strict Keto diet and removed all carbs and sugars only eating certain low sugar veggies , fruit & removed all seed oils . I skip breakfast and usually only eat 1 meal around noon sometimes a small one later . I always drink just black coffee or espresso in the morning and a cappuccino in the afternoon . My blood never spikes and the change in energy, clarity and elimination of inflammation has been nothing short of a miracle. Keep up the great work .
This comment is not directly related to this video, but, as a lover of coffee, a chaser of morning alertness and quite possibly a caffeine addict, I wanted to take the opportunity to say something. I've binged close to every video you've ever made about coffee and needed to tell you about the impact you've so meticulously given to my life and daily habit by opening this Pandora's Box with your knowledge and content. And with this amazing video quality and craftsmanship by dialing in to the minute and nitty gritty details of my most beloved drink, you sir, You, You've completely ruined coffee for me.
Hi James. Turkish word for "breakfast" is "kahvaltı", which literally means "before coffee" 😊🇹🇷
@@vincentleeadams nice bigotry you have there
Just the opposite. It means after the coffe
@@umityayla5051 no the literal translation is something like "under coffee" meaning something for the coffee to land on inside the stomach, therefore not upsetting it.
In Brazil, breakfast is café da manhã, which means morning coffee. So this video doesn't make much sense for me haha
Interesting!!!
I'm used to someone on a cooking show going "I've prepared something in advance", but "I just so happen to have the necessary medical device implanted in my arm" is on a whole other level xD
Spoiler alert … 😒
Hilarious!
But it's entirely the other way around: I happen to have this costly dongle dangling off my body, what can I read about to more thoroughly stress-kitten my self-absorbed metabolic paranoia? I happen to like this stuff, because I prefer to outsource my stress-kitten anomalies, but that doesn't change the nature of the beast.
😅😅😅
@@nick8422 Who reads comments before watching the video?
I really appreciate James' ability to make it clear that this is an interesting topic and his findings and opinions should not be taken as infallible. I wish more content creators had this level of awareness and respect of their viewers.
Noone’s advice should be taken as infallible
As a person with Type 1 diabetes who wears a continuous glucose monitor, I can absolutely corroborate these spikes. As James said, everyone’s body responds differently, but if I drink coffee before or after breakfast, my spikes are calmer. The diabetic’s relationship to coffee is complex, especially the diabetic barista. It was just nice to see other people discussing this issue.
I have gnarly dawn phenomenon. My basal requirements skyrocket at 4:45AM and slowly calm down by 12PM. Coffee will spike me. But it's a slow spike more akin to a basal increase. Interesting that he got a CGM for this. But he's also not trained. I just wonder how this will effect non diabetics who will see virtually no increase in glucose levels from coffee because it's a slow spike?
The thing is, was the coffee drank black, or with sugar and/or cream? I wonder if adding sugar or cream can affect the outcomes of insulin spikes from coffee, especially milk since it seemed that protein could cause a lower spike in insulin, and milk has a little protein in it.
One thing I do know is that metformin & coffee definitly don’t go well together, unless one wants a lot more trips to the loo than usual.
He says you can buy them. Ok, where and do you put them in yourself?
@@spoolspool6278 It is very easy. Go to a drug store and expect to spend about $50 for the reader and $100 for the sensor that lasts 2 weeks (Canadian pricing in case that makes a difference). Comes with instructions and everything you need. Only takes a few minutes (and most of that time is waiting for the alcohol on your arm to dry off, from the alcohol swab that comes with it as well, or it won't stick and is ruined). Essentially painless.
No prescription required (but health insurance may cover it if you have a prescription). The one he is using appears to be a Freestyle Libra, but there are other brands as well.
I'm a Pharmacologist from the University of Edinburgh (also about to start a PhD) with a lot of training in endocrinology, diet, diabetes and cardiovascular disease etc and this video is a perfect example of heterogeneity across different groups of people - I talk about diet, blood sugar, insulin, fasting etc with so many people I know and they don't understand why I give them advice that I don't even follow myself because I already know how my body responds to certain foods, diets and eating habits etc. It's such an interesting topic so I can see how you got invested and ended up getting yourself the blood glucose monitor!
Given your background, would you say the experiment in the study is biased given that the ratio of glucose they took in the study is fairly unnatural?
We have a better rugby team!
- Edinburgh Napier Student
@@zoukon I wouldn't say biased, I definitely think it makes it less applicable to real world scenarios though, as James described. The glucose test they used is common in diabetes research and even clinical diabetes tests so I imagine they just decided to use it so that their research was comparable to other publications involving blood sugar
@@zoukon Ehhh... Very much depends on the person and their habits (which was at least partially the point of the video). Things like a 580 calorie Mc Donald's pancake breakfast exist.
The study also says dont drink coffee IMMEDIATELY before breakfast (i cant remember the exact time as I read it a while ago but its either within 30 min or an hour), their caffeine dosage is also insane as James mentioned
Did you know? In Turkish, breakfast means "kahvaltı". It is a combination of two words "kahve - altı" meaning "before coffee".
Interesting. Thanks for the insight!
Thanks, that's interesting. I wonder if that's partly to do with how strong traditional *Turkish* coffee is?
that's so interesting! in brazilian portoguese we also have something similar, we call breakfast "café da manhã" which means "morning coffee"
Interesting!!!!!
in Turkish brown is called kahverengi, meaning coffee color. Coffee is engraved in culture.
This series always has the best intros. Always a pleasure.
Other youtubers: Giveaway is US & CA only, suck it
James: If you're not in one of the 37 countries the manufacturer can reach I'm really sorry and I'm trying to find a way around that
Good Sir, I would tip my hat if I had one, don't ever change
@Deleted Account I have and it mostly has to do with shipping hassles and cost.
@@NikoBellaKhouf True, it is never the youtubers fault
"I have this thing implanted in my arm because I'm curious about it"
Okay yeah, definitely my kind of people
Interested in that device. Truly
@@oskimac
They're kind of a pain in the ass, so unless you have diabetes and need to be monitoring your levels that frequently (or have trouble with the regular testing method), it's really not worth it.
Firstly, you need a prescription, so again, if you don't actually have diabetes you'd need to give a good reason as to why you want it for a doctor to write one for you. Additionally they can be really pricey, but even more-so if you don't have diabetes as insurance almost certainly would not cover the cost, so it'd be all out of pocket.
Secondly, they're a pain because they fall out/off pretty easily. My uncle had one because he's super active and wanted to be able to read his levels quickly while out and about on hikes without having to get his whole kit out. But he had trouble getting it to stay in because he was so active. They're supposed to stay on for 14 days but he could only manage to get one to stay in for about half that time. He just found it wasn't worth it.
I understand why you're interested though, I would be interested in trying it (if it had fewer drawbacks than it does) just to see. I don't have diabetes or even pre-diabetes, but it would be interesting to know how my body is functioning. Sometimes I test my blood sugar just to see what it's at so I understand. Haha 😅
@@---nobody--- i have a friend. She is always picking his stomach with that devices like pens. And counting units of shugar i think. Its no life. I was searching for him. Thanks
@@---nobody--- They're on amazon in the UK, so no prescription needed. They cost about £55 per sensor, so yeah fairly expensive but not so much that you can't get one to play with. If you need them continuously though that's going to add up fast.
@@TheAkashicTraveller
Yeah I'm a type one diabetic in Australia. Have a subscription with a company that makes these (different brand but the same result) cost $250 aud a month for 5 of them.
no qualifications in coffee? Umm, have you *heard* your slurping skill, sir?
and the fact that he is the wbc
@@EntelSidious_gamzeylmz it's a joke
@@jeremyhunter2319 have I said that its not?
@@EntelSidious_gamzeylmz just admit you didn't get it. If you did you wouldn't have added the WBC bit.
@@jeremyhunter2319 what? It is a joke, I just added that since a lot of people seem to not know it
It would have been wonderful to have seen a Day Zero (No Coffee, No Breakfast) for baseline and a Day 5 (Breakfast then Coffee) just to give a more rounded idea of how your specific blood glucose mornings fluctuate. Regardless, great work sir thoroughly interesting.
Ideally, you'd want to do each of these spike measurements in (at least) week intervals. You don't know if any difference in results are significant until you know what the standard deviations are. To get that, you need sets of identical tests. The more, the better.
Hey, James. I’m a fellow blood enthusiast (and a cognitive psychology student). Turns out the same ingredient (such as oats) can cause different blood sugar and insulin spikes in different forms. For example, the glycemic index of steel-cut oatmeal averages under 55, falling in the low GI category, but instant oatmeal is estimated to have a high GI of 79, even though there’s no sugar added, and instant oats are technically whole foods. This is mostly because when oat groats are processed to be rolled oats or instant oats, their strong plant cell walls are ruptured open, allowing the intracellular contents (mostly starch) to be more easily absorbed, and resulting in an exaggerated blood sugar spike and insulin response. This is also why drinking a smoothie can cause a bigger spike than eating the foods themselves; smoothies just take so much less time to consume, and blenders do a much better job of shredding foods than human teeth do. So from an insulin standpoint, intact whole foods are generally more friendly than highly processed ones.
You can check out these papers to get a more precise explanation:
Mackiem, A. R., Bajka, B. H., & Rigby, N. M. (2017). Oatmeal particle size alters glycemic index but not as a function of gastric emptying rate. American Journal of Physiology-Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology, 313(3), G239-G246.
Grundy, M. M., Edwards, C. H., Mackie, A. R., Gidley, M. J., Butterworth, P. J., & Ellis, P. R. (2016). Re-evaluation of the mechanisms of dietary fibre and implications for macronutrient bioaccessibility, digestion and postprandial metabolism. British Journal of Nutrition, 116(5), 816-833.
(Oh right, love your channel!)
does that mean instant oats will keep you full for a shorter time than steel cut oats?
@@emmeli5492 Yeah, the science checks out. Personally I do feel fuller for longer eating steel cut oats or oat groats compared to instant oats. You can experiment with it.
So oat milk latte…? 😅
@@jessicahall3717 Considering how oat milk is made (with most fibers removed), it probably doesn't have quite a low GI. I guess you can see it as oat juice...? (I do love oat milk latte though. 😆)
Use home made nut milk
Not store bought
Nutrition student here: You would need to drink water equal the the amount of coffee for day 1. While you had the same amount of carbohydrates, the difference in volume means it takes longer time for your stomach to pass on all the carbohydrates to be absorbed in your intestine. Like wise, protein and fat also increases the time your stomach needs to empty (also increasing total volume, again also increasing the time for gastric emptying).
Otherwise cool video :)
This is super interesting, I even thought about it slightly because of how the curves were distributed on the other ones, hinting toward a more distributed spike, rather than a smaller one.
I agree that matching fluid intake would be better. Though the peak and trough timepoints weren't too different for day 1 and 2... the coffee does add volume but it wouldn't add bulk and so may not be hugely altering transit time. It's definitely one of several changes James could make to make things a little more controlled. It would be interesting comparing habitual vs non habitual caffeine consumption on non consecutive days and then with a wash out period to see and then run again
They left out a group. They had rested/no coffee, unrested/coffee, and unrested/coffee. But to round out the test there should have been a rested/coffee group.
You said untested/coffee twice.
@@AdamFloro I think one of them is unrested no coffee
I would have liked to see a protein & fat breakfast in this study.
It's well known that you should break your fast with protein and fat for the very reason of a glucose spike.
Would be interesting to see the results.
Ha I should have watched the whole video before I made the first comment. This guy is on it 👌
@@AdamFloro you’re right, the third one should have been unrested, no coffee.
The most shocking thing for me in this video, is that James only drinks coffee twice a day.
If it's good, you don't need a lot. I could scarf down three pounds of cheap dollar store milk chocolate and not feel satisfied, but a single square of a high-quality dark will do me for the day.
Twice a day could mean "All day and all night!"
Well, he says "at least" twice a day, with no upper bound.
@@maximumacannona unless you work at a cafe its not really convenient to have more than 2 cups
@@KeithOlson Hi. Good point.
Long ago I found that about beef, but I forgot.
Let me suggest baking chocolate.
I think it's terrific, though sometimes I melt it and mix in some stevia... And then pour it over walnut halves or pieces. ...but I digress.
But what if coffee is breakfast?
Me: but coffee is always THE breakfast
I can’t even stand the smell of food in the morning! I’ll have brunch on weekends but my morning coffee is my breakfast!
In that case, you have to have your coffee before your coffee.
@@jfgad I know, food smells terrible, who'd want to eat food! Unless it's brunch and we're paying 20 dollars for eggs, then it's ok.
@@hybridce99 To translate, no more eating food... only coffee drinking, injecting, sniffing... or, you could eat coffee right ?
As someone who also doesn't eat breakfast, but who typically drinks coffee before I have my first meal of the day, I would've been interesting in how that kind of graph would look. I don't have a continuous blood glucose monitor of my own, so I can't do it myself.
I have taken snapshots with test strips and coffee does raise my blood sugar quite a bit (especially really strong coffee)! Haven't tested the whole coffee and breakfast hypothesis, though. I also drink coffee and skip breakfast, so I'm sure it's fine 🙂
They cost a bit, and only last for up to two weeks before needing to be replaced. They also might fall off before the two weeks are up if not protected carefully. So they are not a one time buy.
This blue-red-yellow-brownish one has got to be my favourite sweater so far in your videos.
I always think the same thing
Anyone know what it is?
Scientists: "Our research is often perceived as being pointless when taken out of context."
Media: "Scientists say their research is pointless!"
WRONG. Scientists say, "Our research is ... pointless..."
Where ... = "often perceived as being"
Without the ellipses you're just another person who quotes wrongly.
All the people who upvoted you are sloppy readers, sloppy thinkers, maybe even deplorables.
@@dreamervanroom If you say so... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@@dreamervanroom I do tend to make a mess of anything with words on it. It just doesn't appeal top me if my books or phone aren't covered in bits of my dinner.
@@dreamervanroom that's his point. Scientists are not quoted correctly, so why're you correcting an impression of an incorrect quotation?
Thanks for testing this! Yes individuals vary but eating protein first is important - I've read other studies that support your physical results
James, I love so much that you have taken a scientific study and applied it to real life. As someone who practices nutritional medicine, It always bothers me to see scientific studies like the one you describe.
Nobody has pure glucose for breakfast. Even the worst, most sugary cereals contain a small amount of fibre, which completely alters the speed at which sugar will enter the bloodstream.
The protein tidbit is a fabulous intervention and one I wish I saw recommended by diabetic educators more in Australia, where I live.
5:44 Small remark: Your spike isn't lower here, I think. Your spike is more or less the same. Your base glucose level was already lower.
Exactly
True, the peak is lower though.
It's hard to say without looking at the exact numbers, but with something like this the delta is what's important. It would be interesting to see the graph of the derivatives
Agree.
I was just about to comment this. He needs to normalize baseline.
I love you for the way you are communicating.
The way you explained why you did this and how this isn't necessary for everyone and in no way necessary to obsess about is amazing.
I love that you’re legitimately careful to qualify scientific statements and studies. You’re also very good at taking a scientific approach to your tests. It’s appreciated, and makes me like your (amazing) channel all the much more.
"Nescafe instant coffee...that's not how my mornings starts."
😂
That's exactly how mine start☕
It’s not how anyone’s mornings should start lol
@@stuiesmb
Instant coffee is my mood regulation service.
Gotta get that "gourmet shit".
Every video I appreciate your character and honesty more and more. I don't usually comment on any video but I must let you know that I appreciate you sharing all your experience and knowledge. I started a few months ago with my french press and finding your instructions greatly improved my cups. I assume this comment will be lost since this video is months old, but this video just emphasized what I respect about you from your videos. I am sure that your views and subscribers say this louder than I do, but I greatly appreciate what you put out into the world and must thank you for it. Please take care, the world need more of your energy out there for years to come.
He really does seem to be a gentleman doesn't he?
“Caffeine doesn’t perk you up, it just stops you calming down” interesting
That's how I feel if I have a coffee when I'm exhausted. It doesn't wake me up, it makes me aware of how tired I am.
mitch271 that’s a good way of phrasing it, too. I experienced that in my college days pulling all-nighters at the library.
Oh shit this is why I have anger issues. I need to stop making espresso when I need to cool off.
If I drink enough coffee when I don’t have a tolerance I feel like I’m literally flying when I walk down the street, I think people who drink coffee every day only experience the more mild effects.
thats not wrong, thats the reason i drink coffee through out the day.
As an exercise physiologist who understands insulin response post prandial and gives advice to patients regularly. Well done on A) your unbiased reporting of data B) your clarity of reporting information and other health based knowledge, and knowing where to stop with health advice C) Realising that everyone is indeed different, a MASSIVE factor the media in particular doesn't consider with respect to research.
Can I hire you to help me lose my last bit of body fat while simultaneously not wrecking my body as I train to ruck (not run!) a marathon? I'm having a lot of trouble getting the right balance of eating enough to recover without getting excess calories. Doesn't help that I'm 43.
@@Oberon4278 Hi, different exercise physiologist here. You don't actually want super low fat for marathons. Marathon runners generally have average or higher than average fat. You cannot sustain yourself through a marathon on carbohydrates. Just isn't happening. You generally have 400-800g of glycogen (carbs) which is about 1600 calories, not all of which are available. A marathon costs 1600-2600 calories (rough estimate).
So the real answer is probably that you're fine but without basically giving a personalized session I can't say more than that.
@@eoghanmyers2330 Well, the marathon is over now. I carried a lot of those little gel packs and ate one every two miles. Now that it's over I am never subjecting myself to that misery again.
So is it quicker and easier for your body to translate body fat into energy than dietary carbs? Or is that not what you were saying in your response?
@@Oberon4278 carbohydrate is absolutely faster to utilise than fat and if you take in glucose throughout your exercise that can be fine, but what I was saying is that your body can't store enough carbs to fuel a marathon. Fat is an important part of a marathon and most feelings of fatigue are caused by low carb. You can stay at an exercise intensity that burns predominantly fat and doesn't cause your body to produce excessive lactic acid. In theory you can run at this intensity for as long as your fat stores last, which is a very very long time. The average male has enough fat to do 23 marathons
@@eoghanmyers2330 I must have been able to hit that pace naturally then, because I found that at about a fifteen minute mile (again, carrying a 35lb backpack, not running.) Not a leisurely pace, but not killing myself either, and I could do that all day.
You mentioned that you rarely eat breakfast, and I wonder if eating breakfast 4 days in a row may have calmed your glucose response
yep.
That is also what I am thinking. The body is a great fan of stable patterns in eating habits.
James said the publication participants had abstained from coffee before the test. As a result, their bodies did not expect coffee and produced a bigger spike.
James is not used to any breakfast so the unexpected porridge would give him a large spike.
I was hoping for a statistical average of measurements. He could do a second video doing the four days in the reverse sequence to see if the results are the same, then average the two.
As an endocrinologist I applaud your approach and scientific method (and I absolutely love your channel). You are also quite accurate in describing oGTT, however it should also be clarified that capillary blood glucose does not accurately reflect venous glucose levels, and, as you state, no real conclusions can be drawn from a single experiment conducted in a single individual.
Thanks for the amazing content, I will go check the study.
But as you say, read the study. Do you have any insight on hydration, cortisol and caffeine?
Indeed. I feel the same way. This experiment lacks many important fact checks but its good to get people intrigued about sugar control.
This is very interesting, I suffer from Hashimoto's and had the device mentioned in the vid for two weeks. I've seen very little spiking throughout the period and some rather odd behaviour, like sugar going up when I was going through periods of hunger / severe lack of energy. I always wondered if these monitors are perhaps useless for people like me.
The study is indeed interesting, although some choices regarding sample size and the statistical analyses puzzle me. The amount of caffeine employed appears arbitrary as well, and the sleep disruption protocol is possibly distant from common pathophysiology (and the methodology of most other sleep-disruption studies). As far as the conclusions I feel they are just speculations that do not fully take into account the lack of an association with caffeine metabolism, nor much can be said about cortisol release since the authors did not assess its levels. Overall interesting, but not that convincing; further studies are definitely needed.
@@tomjagiello5119 Yes, they are. Continuous glucose monitoring is clinically indicated only in some subjects affected by diabetes mellitus, or for research purposes.
“But then I also don’t hold any qualifications in coffee.”
*coughs in world’s largest coffee tasting, barista championship, and the cause of 95% of my and countless others’ love for coffee*
do you wield the french by any chance
@@chanparky1208 *gasp* how did you know?
@@ineveraskedforahandle just a hunch
FACTS.
@@chanparky1208 I have a feeling you’re also on discord. If so, hello again.
I would have liked to see how similar two spikes look to each other when having an identical breakfast on different days :) i.e. how reproducible they are
I think we're all taking the fact that James presents everything he researches in such a brilliant way for granted - this man always makes sure his sources (coffee or whatever information it might be) are only from credible ones, and it's a delight to see! I think this is why many can watch any of his videos even without any interest in coffee, he's just that good at presenting information in a very succinct yet engaging way, an inspiration for sure!
This ended up being surprisingly interesting and relevant to me as a type 1 diabetic, as the glucose spikes are something I battle with every day! I also find it funny how you revieal to be using a Freestyle Libre only a few weeks after I started using it myself! Good stuff James, thank you!
ZOE Health Study echos your findings. Most cereals/porridge really bad for glucose spikes. And exercise after meals also really good at controlling blood glucose.
what about: no exercise, no breakfast, just coffee? asking for a friend.
I’m that friend
Just look at any collage student
Word!
A double espresso is my breakfast. Or perhaps two. And a cigarette.
That's my daily routine, no food till lunch
I’m a type 2 diabetic and been following very low carb diet and check my blood glucose twice a day. I don’t have breakfast and I have coffee with a splash of cream around 11am (no spike in blood glucose) then have bacon and eggs fried in butter around 1pm no spike in blood glucose when tested at 30, 60 and 90 minutes 👍🏼
That’s pretty much a keto “breakfast” ...i do that most days, i’m not diabetic, i just like that fat fuel ^^
Do you exercise and if so, at which point?
@@KatarinaS. not really exercise. I walk my 2 dogs everyday for 50 minutes to 1.5hrs wind, rain or snow at this time of year 😂
@@barbsdee3831 That's a fair amount of physical activity, if not formal exercise. Do you do it before coffee and breakfast, after coffee but before breakfast, or after both?
@@barbsdee3831 I'm just curious because I walk about 40 minutes most days and/or workout at home (weights, yoga, pilates) but I do it before my coffee or tea, and then I delay my breakfast until a couple of hours after the caffeinated beverages. I've not been a breakfast eater since high-school, by choice, because food first thing makes me sluggish and even nauseous and I just don't feel hungry early in the day. The exercise kick starts my metabolism and gets me going for the day.
It would be interesting to see a graph of an extra trial where you consume a sugary, milky coffee drink instead of breakfast, so that your glucose spike happens around the same time that your caffeine begins to kick in. I can't imagine it being much different than the coffee>breakfast graph, but so many people consume coffee in this manner that it's worth testing.
I took part in this study when I was at the University of Bath, very interesting to see someone discussing it from a coffee-lover's perspective. Surprised by the 'protein significantly reducing blood glucose spike' result as I conducted an almost identical study with opposite results (which I am aware was in disagreement with the majority of literature on the topic but is interesting nonetheless). Thanks for the video bud!
Is there a link to your study anywhere? Always interested to read more
maybe this one?
doi.org/10.1017/S0007114520002901
he is credited as one of the paper's author.
I would wonder if the butter had a bigger impact on the longer, flatter spike. In general carbs cause a high and short spike in glucose , protein in between, and fat a longer lasting but very mild rise.
@@bi_zha that's the one :)
@@scubble10 i would have guessed that the protein would have provoked an insulin response already, which would eleminate the usual delay between glucose uptake and insulin response, hence giving less time for the glucose level to rise, consequently stopping the glucose levels to spike extremely
Love the n=1 experiment report! It really demonstrates how you need to personalize and test your nutrition, not just assume that the science on it is universal.
I tend to dismiss studies in general until enough research has been done to warrant my attension. I am diabetic and tend to test my blood often. I too find that porridge is lethal to my blood sugar levels, as is whole grains in general. The diabetic groups tend to recommend such things to be part of a healthy diet. My body says no, not a good idea at all.
Porridge breakfast is only for metabolicly healthy people, and before a hard training session.
I am diabetic as well, and I can't tolerate a ton of carbs now. Carbs, no matter how they are eaten, are turned into sugar in the body.. hence the need for insulin to convert the sugar to fat. I eat low carb, but not super low carb (I can't afford it anymore on my food budget), but decided to eat low carb, and incorporate potatoes and legumes into my diet. Lots of micronutrients and fibre in the foods, and potatoes make you feel full faster.
No not a good idea. Im diabetic too. That’s why i stick to green leafy veggies, protein. Im asian so i looooove rice. I just try to eat it once a day though, but if ever i do eat rice, i eat it with lots of greens. I find that it doesn’t raise my blood sugar as much, almost similar to eating no sugar or carbs at all. Ive done keto and that really does wonders but is also hard to stick to. Ive dine low carb and found that it really works for me, sure the results arent as good as keto but immfine with it. I still eat a bit of carbs (aka rice lol) because that makes me happy. And it helps me stay on the diet. I just make sure to fast more when i do eat a lot in a day. Im now regular in all my diabetic tests.
I was diagnosed with diabetes some years ago. Never did get to the point of using insulin though. Then came keto and eventually ketovore almost 5 years ago. No meds and blood glucose has been normal since. Now if I started to eat bread, grains, sweets, starchy veg, I expect I’d be right back to diabetes.
I remember reading this article a few weeks ago. Didn't they also use foods that were high in sugar? Adding things like orange juice etc. is going to spike your glucose no matter what.
You are correct about oj.
All carbohydrates increase your glucose. Increasing your glucose is called spiking your glucose (blood glucose).
So I checked to find out what happens to your glucose with a protein-fat only meal. That has no response and neither does protein.
Here's an article that discusses the issue. Please note the respectable source of the information. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9416027/
Iirc, both groups had orange juice and they compared whether the glucose spike was higher for the group who had coffee, so they can measure the effect of coffee alone
Very good point. Thank you.
@@Tony2dH did they baseline those people without coffee? I’m not aware if certain foods or sugar intake spike peoples glucose in different ways it seems unlikely that everyone would have the same spike but I could be wrong
I wonder about what people added to the *coffee*. Seems like nobody would actually want to drink a big cup of Nescafe black. Even if the participants claimed to, how did they correct for people lying about their coffee? Did this all happen in the lab?
Hey James - as a type 1 diabetic, with a CGM ( I use Dexcom - get 5 min intervals on my BG ) - one of the biggest things that change with your experiment is time. Part of the reason why the sleep study was interesting and part of the results is due to your physiology - is what's called the dawn phenomenon. This is where your body is releasing cortisol (as you stated) in the early morning and your ability for your body to quickly counteract the glucose is reduced. How I sleep and when I sleep or am restless at night directly affects my dawn phenomenon/insulin resistance in the morning. I see this nearly every day of my life now - and what's more interesting is the "strength" of the glucose hit when I drink coffee (or eat) closer to the time I wake up and the time I consume my first coffee or even lower carb breakfast ( sub 10 carb ). I have a ton of examples that are way too long for a YT comment section, but, lets say I wake up at 5:30am. If I walk directly to my Decent machine and pull a shot, I have to dose (my insulin) for nearly 20g of carbs to counteract the spike I'm about to get. If I wait say 30 mins, I'd have to dose for the same shot I would have had at 5:40a, and move that to 6:10a, I'd have to dose myself about 12g of carbs worth of insulin. Move it out to say, 8 am... and I'd have to dose for 0 carbs. When I exercise early(er) in the morning, I can cut that cortisol spike to nearly zero. Wake up, exercise (yes, ok, burning glucose and such, as it appears you know -- but!) I can then dose for 0 carbs for the rest of my coffee's for the rest of the day.
This is super interesting. Also a T1D. Gotta admit that I'm terrible with taking insulin before around noon (pen no pump) but I haven't really found coffee to change my BG. I sleep pretty well most nights (new mattress) so that may be a reason, but I'm definitely hit hard by the dawn phenomenon most days. If I don't get my basal in early, which I usually don't, I'll skyrocket up to around 200 (US) in just a few minutes regardless of how it was before. Super interesting how everyone's bodies are so different. I use a libre. Cheers!
@@dyj321 Get on a pump and CGM at whatever cost. It's worth it. If you are in any way technically inclined, research OpenAPS or Loop. Loop has changed my life in so many ways as a diabetic it's indescribable.
@@chrisjohnson583 when I'm on a schedule I do really well, I just get busy and completely forget to even look at my BG. I guess a CGM and pump would help with that... Eventually I'm sure. Pretty satisfied with the libre at the moment, but will definitely will look at a good system when I decide to switch. Will definitely look up loop and OpenAps. Might move me to a pump!
Interesting stuff! I am wondering myself about exercise first as I always walk the dog before breakfast or coffee. (No yard to let her out and seems cruel to make her wait)
@@fwizzybee42 I'm wondering about brandy for breakfast.
I'm absolutely pro-science, but as I have coffee for breakfast and don't eat until about 2pm, I'm happy to keep doing that.
Same
Same hahaha
You can't get a glucose spike from breakfast if you don't have breakfast
It is extremely unhealthy to only start eating at 2 pm
Most people would be ill if they did that
I’m a type 1 diabetic and I literally just got off the phone with my diabetic clinician where we were trying to pin point the reasons behind my spikes. I always have a CGM on (at no cost to me- god bless the NHS). I have definitely been drinking more coffee in the mornings during lockdown.
I’m not going to treat anything in the video as an alternative to clinical advice of course, but it’s certainly interesting and I’ll keep an eye out for it. Obviously the huge variable is that I’m dependent upon insulin injections so my body doesn’t make its own adjustments.
They’re always fascinating these videos, keep up the good work James!
I was thinking the exact same thing myself. T1D nhs gang represent. Wish I could get a CGM in my region though, my control is genuinely terrible even with like 8 tests a day.
@@dompercy that’s a shame? What region are you in?
As a diabetic I found this particularly interesting. I see the difference in my blood glucose on my days at the gym or if I have coffee too.
As a T2 diabetic, thank you for bringing this up so that people like me will know to investigate further then run our own tests because, as you definitely stress, we're all different. Genetically speaking, some us (hi!) have a higher tolerance for caffeine (somehow...magic, maybe?), so there's that, too. We're all different but we need to know in what ways that difference affects us so that we can "control our own destinies" as best we can. Thanks!
There are some superb doctors on youtube, who know a ton about T2 diabetes and how to reverse it. The drug cartel just want to keep you on their drugs....and most doctors are happy to keep you as a life-long cash cow.
not only everyone is different, each individual is different from himself in different days as a consequence of a multitude of factors, such as sleep quantity and quality, nutrition etc
PLEASE DO ANOTHER VIDEO! - For completeness and because you mentioned you sometimes skip breakfast - Would be very interested to know what happens to your blood sugar, if you drink coffee then have no breakfast with no exercise versus coffee no breakfast and the exercise. Could you give us your results?
Ditto. I have exercise then coffee then a walk with no breakfast. I wonder what it does to my glucose levels.
Yeah I’d love an update on his experiences with the device. I practiced the protein first and it has really improved my energy throughout the day!
I can tell you that having coffee with exercise and no breakfast causes zero insulin spike, because you don't produce insulin like that on an empty stomach (or if you only have a bit of fat and protein with no carbs first thing). I've lost 75 pounds in the last year and vastly improved my insulin sensitivity by just not doing anything to make my body make insulin for the first half of the day (I was right on the edge of type 2 diabetese and reversed it back down to near-healthy levels in about 8 months).
Don't eat carbs. Ever.
This really resonates with things I already intuitively know! I've always felt super hungry on days when I get poor sleep (less than 6 hours) and blood glucose spikes make so much sense as an explanation. Also, people always seem to talk about how oatmeal is super filling but for me it's always felt only slightly better than sugary breakfast cereal unless I add a lot of fat and/or protein, so seeing how high those spikes were with just oatmeal (with or without the coffee) was really interesting. I bet my body is treating the carbs similarly but others might not get quite as high of a spike
I have been absolutely loving these vintage intro's!!! They remind me of the Stranger Things intro! Also just wanted to say that over the years I have been seeing the quality of your video's (and especially your editing) go up!
I’m very much in love with this kind of studies, where glucose spikes get reduced. Loved how the co-relation with coffee was actually derived to the meal
Coffee is my go to breakfast with grass fed butter and teaspoon of teaspoon of unrefined coconut oil....ear a low card,or no carb lunch and dinner, at 2pm 5pm.
I think you/James should have done the experiment for at least a month (where you kept the same routine for at least 1 week) before concluding that the results of the paper do not match your case. The body may be affected by other factors, and even by what you did the day before. There are a ton of factors in place here, so that is why I think you should have measured the glucose levels over a week, and then calculate the average glucose levels over time for every case (introducing a shaded area denoting some statistical variation such as medians or std dev over time).
Another thing: it would have made sense to add in the graph the typical time for breakfast and exercise to compare the glucose changes with the related activities. This is not critical, but would have been interesting.
Anyway, very nice little experiment! I would love to have the device and test how to control my glucose levels.
I would watch that video
Yes, just repeating the same procedure on different occasions would bring a lot of value here. I'm no physician, but could it e.g. be a factor that he's not a breakfast person (he said that he typically doesn't eat breakfast), causing a larger reaction to the breakfast initially, then less and less as the body grows accustomed to it?
I agree. I am diabetic and there are a lot of factors other than food that affect blood sugar. For me, coffee has never been an issue and also for me taking a walk after meals def helps keep blood sugar spikes down. These are things you learn over years of testing yourself though.
Yes!
And even more, a sample of this size offers almost none statistical significance so the "experiment" doesn't really say anyting at this point.
the device i think he is using is the freestyle libra if your interested
As a type 1 diabetic, seeing 8.5mmol/L described as a pretty big spike in blood glucose is very, very jarring
Totally. My wife uses a Dexcom CGM and has very good control of her blood sugar. Going up to 10+ wouldn't be considered out of the ordinary after a meal.
Yes, this sounds like a body doing what it is supposed to.
T2 here, 8.5 straight after food would be great...
A big spike for James. As he stated, your results may vary :)
T2 as well. Fighting hard to get under 8.0
Didn't hear of the study til now, and what was the most interesting discovery for me was the impact of protein on blood glucose levels.
It's crazy that "a guy talking about coffee on youtube" goes to great lengths not only to talk about coffee, but about how culture and science intertwine the balance of regular life.
Thank you so much for doing what you're doing - it's a fascinating adventure.
That was fascinating to me - particularly the bit about day four and how it affected you - but honestly: I would be very interested to see a video from you about the effects of drinking coffee early in the day, without eating. I've rarely eat breakfast myself these days, but tend to have a cup of coffee (8oz), and sometimes a little bit of dark chocolate. I'm curious why you choose not to eat breakfast, and how it relates to your early coffee drinking habits.
James chose both to eat breakfast and to not eat breakfast to mimic the two groups in the scientific test. His breakfast food was the imitation of the glucose that the doctor is used in the test.
I guess the coffee is working. I'm here early.
Means your Internet is working....
Thumbs up 👍 and A+ for this video for one reason. NO background music playing during the talk!!! I could hear every word! Excellent 👍
James, I'm loving watching your filmmaking skills mature. You could legitimately make a full scale, high quality documentary/movie. Keep it up! I would watch pretty much anything you make at this point, coffee related or not!
Your adherence to real scientific principles and encouraging people's own reading of legitimate sources is just 1 of several thousand reasons why you represent all that is good about youtube
Drinking coffee during or after a meal reduces significantly our ability to absorb non-heme iron from food, due to the tannins present in coffee. For that it would be better to drink coffee at least ~ 1/2 hour before your meal.
James, was there a notable difference in the way you 'felt' each day, in a real-world way?
That's a great point. I'd like to know too.
Well I can tell you only from my own experience, I feel a lot better if I eat breakfast before having a coffee. No idea if this has anything to do with my blood-glucose levels though.
@@arvedpi1784 it has a lot to do with how your stomach responds to coffee when it's empty.
Tbh I always felt more of a rush with coffee on an empty stomach.
@@mmmmmmm3246 Similar to drinking alcohol on an empty stomach I imagine. Can get in to the blood quicker.
Love the scientific aspect of this video! We seem to have a similar sense of humor, I've had a parallel Kevin show up in three of my episodes already! Thanks for the video and going in to the details!
Thank you for the knowledge. For me personally, if I don't have coffee first thing in the morning, I can't prepare breakfast. I guess it was born of habit because my mom, my ajnts and pretty much everyone I know are like that.
You think you can't. I was the same. Once you are in a situation of no caffeine (or no food) for several days all of a sudden you realise it's all relative. Aren't we funny like that
That's addiction
I would love to have seen a glucose test in the order of coffee, exercise, breakfast
Coffee then browse internet for 2 hours. Let's be realistic.
Not much to be honest. This whole thing is over hyped. I've been using a CGM for 6 years. My insulin requirements barely go up doing any of those in order.
Turkish word for breakfast means "light meal to eat before coffe". You can see how coffe can change and transform a steppe originated culture.
wow, that's cool
Still waiting on a video on making proper Turkish coffee.....
Are you serious? Cos that’s fantastically cool.
Just came to mention it. My stomach thanks me everytime I patiently wait and finish a warm omelette before I have my cup of joe. I also try to wait at least 30 minutes after every meal for iron to settle in. Though, if I have a big Turkish breakfast spread, I’d definetely go with Turkish coffee in a big cup.
@@Cazu_Orddu_Medea lol if your Turkish coffee results in a big cup, either you are having more than one cup, or the coffee isn't prepared the Turkish way :)
I always eat big early. I’m not even hungry when “lunch time” comes around. I drink coffee early, too and never again until the next day. I take all my supplements with that first meal (after). This help helps me to not be sleepy, improves my mood and makes my work day much more tolerable. I eat a light dinner and avoid cheese close to bed time. If a food item makes me gassy or sleepy i stop eating it. I avoid bread. I no longer drink alcohol or smoke.
No one asked but i feel healthy from all this.
You're spoiled
My name is Yoshikage Kira. I'm 33 years old. My house is in the northeast section of Morioh, where all the villas are, and I am not married. I work as an employee for the Kame Yu department stores, and I get home every day by 8 PM at the latest. I don't smoke, but I occasionally drink. I'm in bed by 11 PM, and make sure I get eight hours of sleep, no matter what. After having a glass of warm milk and doing about twenty minutes of stretches before going to bed, I usually have no problems sleeping until morning. Just like a baby, I wake up without any fatigue or stress in the morning. I was told there were no issues at my last check-up. I'm trying to explain that I'm a person who wishes to live a very quiet life. I take care not to trouble myself with any enemies, like winning and losing, that would cause me to lose sleep at night. That is how I deal with society, and I know that is what brings me happiness. Although, if I were to fight I wouldn't lose to anyone.
Sounds like you are doing many things right ! Good for you!
Well that was a lot to unpack James! I was recently diagnosed with Type II Diabetes and was actively encouraged to have breakfast every day Where as before and for all of my adult life I didn't eat breakfast apart from on the holidays, such as Xmas and Easter. The effects on my blood glucose were horrendous for the entire time I was eating breakfast, They were supposed to help reduce my levels for the day with healthy eating. I have since done an experiment, where I stopped eating breakfast but maintained my morning dose of coffee. Surprisingly my blood glucose levels maintained there average levels through till lunchtime, with maybe a 0.4 point drop during the morning. I then spent the next week eating breakfast again but with out coffee, and oh my word! My blood glucose levels went all over the place, going high and staying high or worse going high and then dropping below pre-breakfast levels rapidly in an hour. I have since gone back to drinking just my coffee in the morning and will have lunch instead. Overall my blood glucose levels have now levelled out over the last six months and I am feeling much better for it. Keep up the great videos James! Always a pleasure to watch!
I'll take a guess that it sounds like James is into fasting! That's actually part of the reason I got into coffee (besides this channel). When the only flavor you can enjoy is coffee for a day, you tend to care more about it's quality.
My girlfriend and I have been drinking lots of La Croixs since we’ve started intermittent fasting.
Bulletproof coffee ☕️ is the mainstay of fasting indeed. I lost lots of kilos via the brew.
The problem is the Carbs and Sugar!!!! But if your breakfast is eggs and bacon then you should be fine! So for anyone who is following Keto or Carnivore they don’t have to worry about glucose spikes or insulin resistance!
This is a particularly interesting video for me. I was beginning to suspect a common interest (then I looked at your links re blood glucose)...such as a ketogenic interest. And it seems so ;-) . For me, since I also do IF (intermittent fasting) and because by nature I have no interest in food in the morning until a late lunch...no morning blood spikes. So...just green tea first thing in the morning and a few hours later the first of my three espressos. The last one being in my local cafe here in Spain...where I get a wonderful crema espresso with a tall cap of foamy milk. I call it a mini capuccino. Great video, thank you!
World:" james, what are your thoughts on instant coffee"
James: "That's not how my mornings start"
Instant is _not_ coffee; it’s a coffee-like substance.
Your results are the same as mine. Love hearing about your journey with food. I haven’t had breakfast in years, unless you consider two tablespoons of salted butter in your coffee breakfast.
169 people were drinking their pre-breakfast coffee while watching this.
It’s 169 now
No thanks! My break-FAST is usually 4-5pm. Can’t wait that long for coffee 😅
Thanks for the video. I also wonder what role fat played in your protein before carbs, since the hormone CCK is released when eating fat and helps slow digestion.
Breakfast=Kahvalti (Kahve altı) in Turkish. It literally means “A meal before coffee”. We have been using this word for centuries :)
In Brazil Portuguese is "Café da manhã". It literally means Coffee of the morning lol
@@lproca82 At the same time it means “breakfast”?
@@dr.onderkul yes it means breakfast.
Isn't Turkish coffee a lot stronger than espresso, let alone café au lait or cappuccino.
@@jessicali8594 Not actually. Let’s say common espresso ratio is 1/2, for Turkish coffee it’s 1/10. It’s between espresso and pour over.
For more consistent results, you should test each option for a few days in a row
Coffee can reduce iron absorption as well, which is worth considering if you're relying on iron-fortified breakfast cereals/bread for your iron intake. The articles don't seem to have even mentioned this!
For more details, my understanding is that this affects particularly non-haem iron (from plant sources) rather than haem iron (from meat and dairy), and can potentially contribute to iron deficiency anaemia (stated on the NHS website). The particularly influential study is Hurrell et al (1999) "Inhibition of non-haem iron absorption in man by polyphenolic-containing beverages"). Another launching point is this year's Duda-Chodak and Tarko (2023) "Possible Side Effects of Polyphenols and Their Interactions with Medicines". From this I suspect it'll affect fortified breakfasts or even things like spinach more than any iron-rich meat (say bacon and eggs)
I suspect this'd be much harder to replicate in an n=1 trial though, and it's obviously beyond the scope of the underlying study here. The results on blood glucose are fascinating nonetheless.
With coffee and meals, as someone that struggles with iron deficiency, I’m more concerned about iron absorption, which falls flat on its face specially on vegetarian/vegan meals that provide mostly non-heme iron.
Would love for you to have Dr. Mike on your channel to talk about the health science of coffee. You and Dr. Mile show a lot of dedication to honesty and credibility in your videos, so I think it’s a perfect collab
I love your presentation and visual style. The subtle details like the second you out of focus in the background or one of the eggs spinning play so well with the focused minimalist aesthetic
I'm not in one of the countries but I really need a grinder. I'm grinding my coffee with a nutri bullet..
This is a simple but relevant video. Lots of people like me are looking for the best way to start their day. For me, working out is something I have always wanted to be able to do in the morning rather than the afternoon. The issue with this is protein intake. Most people consume protein throughout the day, providing a base for going into a workout as well as to add onto with a shake and meal afterwards to maximize recovery and muscle gain. So, trying to workout in the morning means either less protein or no protein going into the session.
So, when you add coffee to the mix in the morning, if you spike glucose, it can further complicate digestion, protein intake, and maybe having to stop your workout to take a bathroom break. But, many athletes have coffee anyways, because it is a morning routine thing. So, I guess the real follow up would be, does coffee and carbs or coffee & protein have a negative effect on digestion/protein synthesis?
I'll keep looking around for takes on this question. But, this little bit was very good. Thanks!
I have been type 1 diabetic for 54yrs. Yes, black coffee gives me spikes. Exercise is a great tamer for that. Endocrinologist recommends proteins before carb and combine carbs with fat, equal portions of each. I wear a CGM which communicates with my pump. My A1c is 5.7 on the USA method. Try some EVOO with your porridge.
Last Video: „Lets brew some 70 year old coffee”
This Video: “This Video we are looking on human blood”
This is going in a strange direction smh
Before that, there was a mustache! Lockdown is doing strange things to James!
@@thisamericanwifepod I understand the mustache can be useful if you are drinking unfiltered coffee.
@@bigblue6917 lol best comment of the day
@@thisamericanwifepod Don't knock the stache!
Halloween fast approaching?
I‘m one of those, who can‘t have coffee on an empty stomach. Tried and tested a few times & I always end up with a migrane, that will last a whole day. I can‘t do anything but sleep it off. That‘s the reason, why I always have my coffee after lunch, when I‘m at my lowest energy.
I think because it’s so acidic 🤮.
If coffee did that to me, I would just drink green tea instead.
@@Bruce_Wayne35 Green tea makes me really nauseous on an empty stomach.
u get a migraine bc coffee is a drug and a dehydrant and very acidic, so its actually very bad for you.
Very nice presentation . I actually use coffee and light breakfast as part of a pre workout routine: Instant coffee with 1% milk and a little flavored sweetener syrup. Then I have some sort of carbohydrate along the lines of a breakfast biscuit or Pop Tart. Your research shows that I'm setting myself up for a respectable glucose spike. While I'm still cleaning the Pop Tart bits out of my mouth with my tongue , I grab a sport drink and head down into my basement gym for a brief full body workout involving bodyweight, dumbbell, and barbell exercises followed by an equally lengthy yoga cool down. Your research suggests, my workout is "boosted" by that glucose spike and the spike is also equally flattened out by said workout. The yoga happens the same time the spike is fading back to normal. Very enlightening. Thank you for your efforts and contributions.
Your channel is one that makes the whole world a better place by making us all smarter. The overall quality and value of information is off the charts. Thank you!
James be on a roll with videos lately!
This was fascinating. I have been working with a dietitian and she said something like when you have breakfast before coffee, coffee is medicine or you are getting more of the benefits that coffee has to offer. When you have coffee first thing, it’s more of a drug. I have been experimenting with this and paying attention to how I feel and out put and what not. I’d have to agree with what you have pointed here in your experience. Our modern diet is perfect for giving everyone diabetes. The majority of us experience before full on diabetes, what is known as INSULIN RESISTANCE. It is very reversible, with diet and lifestyle change. There is a lot of great info about insulin resistance, how to figure out if you have it and how to take lots of small steps to be your best you. I have thought about getting one of those monitors mounted to really dial in my habits, so I can continue to do all that I enjoy into my old age. I’m sharing this with several people now.
“I’m sharing this with several people now.”-Ahh, no better way to start the morning than with the sharing of blood-borne pathogens. In seriousness, though, I’d like to know too; I’ve asked a diabetic family member to give me one of their devices and am curious to see what comes out of it for me. Did you get a chance to try one yet?
Almost spit out my espresso at :33 when Jame’s clone popped in. 🤯 But you know what, what this world needs is definitely more James Hoffmans. Carry on James, carry on.
As a type 1 diabetic who wears a glucose monitor this was a great video!
I know that coffee always raises my glucose levels even without sugar because caffeine can raise glucose levels, that doesn’t stop me from drinking coffee though!
Since I took early retirement I’ve more time in the morning, so my morning routine is to make a double espresso. I eat 2 or 3 satsumas before the espresso, I find the acidity of the fruit intensifies the coffee flavour, I then eat a bowl of porridge. I’d love to know how this morning ritual affects my blood glucose levels. Anyway I find it very enjoyable.
Well, caffeine inhibits the teardown of the molecule "CAMP" which is normally activated via adrenalin in the body.
This molecule is also being used to tell your liver to teardown the glycogen and start using the glucose which is glycogen made of, and secret it to the bloodstream. This can be one of the reasons they are seeing a spike of glucose after drinking coffee, especially if the person has a high percentage of glycogen in the liver.
Glucose spikes are also different for everyone. I've seen a lot of data from CGMs on non diabetics. Some people spike up to 200 after a meal and some don't go above 120.
@@emceeunderdogrising
Depending on the amount of sugar they are taking on the meal. And if their sugar spikes to 200 after a meal, it is a sign to go to the doctor and check it out before it goes worse. I am doing a low carb diet and after a meal not going to more than 77 mg/dl sugar
@@drtechtek2165 The ones that spike to 200 are pre diabetics in most cases. Virtually everyone who has normally functioning pancreatic cells will see virtually no spike. I've seen a lot of data from CGMs in non diabetics. The variability is there. I don't do low carb. I just control with insulin. My A1c has been below 6 for over 15 years. The question here is about coffee which causes relatively no spike at all. Just a slight basal increase in me. A normal person will be perfectly capable of handling a slow spike.
I expected to see James with Mustache as a donor
Hahaha me too
Petition to make this happen
Great work James thanks for all your videos. I’ve recently went on a strict Keto diet and removed all carbs and sugars only eating certain low sugar veggies , fruit & removed all seed oils . I skip breakfast and usually only eat 1 meal around noon sometimes a small one later . I always drink just black coffee or espresso in the morning and a cappuccino in the afternoon . My blood never spikes and the change in energy, clarity and elimination of inflammation has been nothing short of a miracle. Keep up the great work .
This comment is not directly related to this video, but, as a lover of coffee, a chaser of morning alertness and quite possibly a caffeine addict, I wanted to take the opportunity to say something. I've binged close to every video you've ever made about coffee and needed to tell you about the impact you've so meticulously given to my life and daily habit by opening this Pandora's Box with your knowledge and content. And with this amazing video quality and craftsmanship by dialing in to the minute and nitty gritty details of my most beloved drink, you sir,
You,
You've completely ruined coffee for me.
Same here, now every day starts by trying to make a better cup than the day before!
Take it with a grain of salt , just enjoy your morning routines and your cup of coffee .
@@krisverding3908 too late, I'm already lost (and highly caffeinated).