Coffee AFTER breakfast: Healthy option or just ridiculous?

Despite perceived wisdom, a new study conducted by researchers from the University of Bath posits that it might actually be more productive to consume your first cup of coffee after you’ve had breakfast rather than before—at least as far as metabolic health is concerned.

More specifically, the authors determined that those who routinely consumed coffee after breakfast enjoyed significant benefits to their blood sugar levels.

The link between coffee, timing, and metabolism

The adverse metabolic effects associated with coffee intake before breakfast were more pronounced among those who received poor sleep the night prior.

Interestingly enough, one night of poor sleep appeared to yield a minimal adverse impact on metabolic health (if it yielded any effect at all) but the effect is much more detrimental to blood glucose when combined with caffeine intake before a meal.

Blood glucose, which is our primary source of energy, is derived from the food we eat. When we consume foods with glucose in them, our bodies are able to more readily absorb this energy. When this relationship is routinely disrupted, conditions like diabetes and heart disease may occur.

“Morning coffee is a common remedy following disrupted sleep, yet each factor can independently impair glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity in healthy adults. Remarkably, the combined effects of sleep fragmentation and coffee on glucose control upon waking per se have never been investigated,” the authors wrote.

In a randomized study, twenty-nine adults were administered three oral glucose tolerance tests. One following an uninterrupted night of sleep, and the others following a disrupted night of sleep.

Each condition was tested with and without morning coffee approximately one hour after waking (approximately 300 mg caffeine as black coffee 30 min prior to glucose testing).

Consistently, one night of disrupted sleep did not worsen participants’ blood glucose/insulin responses at breakfast when compared to a normal night’s sleep, while strong black coffee consumed after breakfast and one night of disrupted sleep substantially increased participant’s blood glucose response by roughly 50%.

It seems to be that coffee impairs one’s ability to process the sugar in their breakfast. Sugar, or glucose, is an important part of helping our bodies glean energy from the food we consume.

The authors suggest a potential solution to combat a bad night’s sleep without disrupting your glucose response.

Individuals can try to strike a balance between the stimulating effects of caffeinated coffee in the morning and the potential for higher blood glucose levels by being more disciplined about the foods they eat in the morning. Still, the present literature encourages consuming coffee following breakfast as opposed to before.

“Put simply, our blood sugar control is impaired when the first thing our bodies come into contact with is coffee especially after a night of disrupted sleep. We might improve this by eating first and then drinking coffee later if we feel we still feel the need it. Knowing this can have important health benefits for us all,” the authors added in a media release.

“There is a lot more we need to learn about the effects of sleep on our metabolism, such as how much sleep disruption is necessary to impair our metabolism and what some of the longer-term implications of this are, as well as how exercise, for instance, could help to counter some of this.”