3 Coffee Habits That Are Silently Wrecking Your Health — Transcript

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1. 0:00There is one thing that around 2 billion
2. 0:02people do every single morning without
3. 0:05even questioning it. They wake up and
4. 0:07the first thing they reach for before
5. 0:09food or before water or before anything
6. 0:11else is coffee. And I completely
7. 0:14understand why. I drink coffee every
8. 0:16single day. It makes you feel a bit
9. 0:18sharper. It makes you feel more awake,
10. 0:21more alert, more human. But the way the
11. 0:23majority of us actually drink it is
12. 0:26actively working against us. Not because
13. 0:28coffee is bad. The evidence on that is
14. 0:31actually really reassuring. I'll come on
15. 0:32to that in a few more minutes. But
16. 0:34because of the timing of coffee, the
17. 0:36additions to the coffee, and the order
18. 0:38in which we actually consume it. And
19. 0:41those details are quietly setting off a
20. 0:44chain of hormonal and metabolic events
21. 0:47that explain why by 11:00 in the morning
22. 0:50you feel like you need another coffee.
23. 0:53So, in this video we're going to go
24. 0:54through the physiology of what coffee
25. 0:56actually does to your blood sugar. Why
26. 0:59your morning routine might be creating
27. 1:02the crash that you're trying to escape.
28. 1:04What the evidence actually says about
29. 1:06the best time to drink it. And which
30. 1:09milk and sweetener choices are quietly
31. 1:12undermining your glucose stability. So,
32. 1:15let's start with what coffee actually
33. 1:16does in your body because this is quite
34. 1:18a complex topic here. Caffeine works
35. 1:21primarily by blocking adenosine
36. 1:24receptors in the brain. So, adenosine is
37. 1:26a chemical that builds up the longer
38. 1:29that you've been awake and makes you
39. 1:31feel progressively more sleepy
40. 1:32throughout the day. Now, caffeine
41. 1:34doesn't remove that sleepiness. It just
42. 1:37sort of masks it and blocks it. It sits
43. 1:39in the receptor and stops adenosine
44. 1:42binding to it. Which is why when
45. 1:44caffeine gradually wears off and those
46. 1:46receptors open back up, the accumulated
47. 1:49adenosine then floods back in and makes
48. 1:52you feel worse than before. That is your
49. 1:54afternoon slump or afternoon energy dip.
50. 1:57That is the roller coaster that a lot of
51. 1:59us feel.
52. 2:00But, caffeine also triggers your adrenal
53. 2:03glands to release cortisol and
54. 2:05adrenaline, your stress response
55. 2:07hormones. So, they evolved to give you
56. 2:09this burst of energy when you needed to
57. 2:12run away from something or fight, like a
58. 2:14bear or a lion or a saber-tooth tiger or
59. 2:16something like that. And one of the
60. 2:18things they do is signal the liver to
61. 2:21release glucose into the bloodstream,
62. 2:24essentially creating this big energy
63. 2:26surge. So, even black coffee with zero
64. 2:29calories and zero carbs can produce
65. 2:31quite a significant rise in blood sugar
66. 2:33in some people.
67. 2:35Now, a 2021 study in the British Journal
68. 2:37of Nutrition found that drinking strong
69. 2:40black coffee first thing in the morning
70. 2:42before anything else impaired glucose
71. 2:45metabolism across the entire morning in
72. 2:48healthy adults. People who drank coffee
73. 2:50before eating had higher blood sugar
74. 2:53after their subsequent breakfast
75. 2:55compared to those who had nothing or
76. 2:58even just a glass of water first.
77. 3:00The effect was particularly pronounced
78. 3:03when sleep had been quite poor the night
79. 3:05before because bad sleep already
80. 3:07elevates your cortisol independently,
81. 3:09and then the coffee just sort of stacks
82. 3:11on top of that. Which leads directly
83. 3:14onto something that the research around
84. 3:16continuous glucose monitors has made
85. 3:18increasingly clear over the last decade
86. 3:20or so.
87. 3:21And it comes down to the order in which
88. 3:24you do things in the morning. Your
89. 3:26cortisol is naturally highest in the
90. 3:29first hour after waking. This is normal,
91. 3:32and it happens in most of us. This is
92. 3:34called the cortisol awakening response,
93. 3:37and it is completely normal physiology.
94. 3:40It is your body preparing you for the
95. 3:42demands of the day. But, the problem is
96. 3:45that caffeine amplifies that cortisol
97. 3:48response. So, drinking coffee
98. 3:50immediately after waking pushes your
99. 3:53cortisol even higher than it would
100. 3:56naturally go, which primes your liver to
101. 3:58release glucose, which means when you
102. 4:00then eat your breakfast 30 or 60 minutes
103. 4:03later, your body is already dealing with
104. 4:06elevated blood sugar before the meal has
105. 4:09even begun. The spike from your food is
106. 4:11therefore higher, the insulin response
107. 4:13is larger, and the subsequent crash is
108. 4:17more pronounced. If you eat first before
109. 4:19your coffee then that picture changes
110. 4:21completely. When you eat before your
111. 4:23coffee, particularly a breakfast that is
112. 4:25high in fiber and healthy fats and
113. 4:28protein, your blood sugar rises more
114. 4:31gradually. The glucose from your food is
115. 4:33absorbed more slowly, insulin is
116. 4:35released in a more controlled fashion,
117. 4:38and then when you have your coffee after
118. 4:39the meal, the cortisol response happens
119. 4:42on top of a system that is already in a
120. 4:45very stable, fed state rather than a
121. 4:49fasted hormonally sensitized one.
122. 4:52Research from the University of Bath
123. 4:54specifically examined this sequence and
124. 4:56found really big differences in glucose
125. 4:59handling depending on whether coffee
126. 5:01came before or after food. So, if you
127. 5:05want steady energy throughout your
128. 5:07morning, then eat your breakfast first
129. 5:10and drink your coffee after. Now,
130. 5:12assuming the timing is right, what you
131. 5:15actually put into your coffee matters
132. 5:16just as much, and this is where a lot of
133. 5:18people make choices that seem quite
134. 5:20reasonable but are repeatedly spiking
135. 5:23their glucose throughout the entire day.
136. 5:26So, sugar is the obvious one. A teaspoon
137. 5:28in each coffee doesn't really sound like
138. 5:30much, but if you're having three or four
139. 5:32coffees a day, that glucose load adds up
140. 5:34really quickly, and each one causes a
141. 5:37discrete spike and a subsequent insulin
142. 5:39response. The more spikes you have
143. 5:42across a day, the more your energy
144. 5:44oscillates, and if you want the
145. 5:46sweetness, then the evidence supports
146. 5:48stevia and monk fruit as the safest
147. 5:51options. Both are derived from plants,
148. 5:54neither of them really raises your blood
149. 5:56glucose, and neither of them appears to
150. 5:58carry the negative gut microbiome
151. 6:01effects that some artificial sweeteners
152. 6:03like sucralose have been associated
153. 6:05with. Once you've sorted the question
154. 6:07around sweetness, the next question is
155. 6:10all about milk, and this is where food
156. 6:12marketing has created a significant
157. 6:14amount of confusion.
158. 6:16So, plant-based milks have been
159. 6:18positioned as the healthier, more
160. 6:21sophisticated choice these days. And for
161. 6:23some purposes, they absolutely are, but
162. 6:25not all of them behave the same way.
163. 6:28Now, oat milk is the obvious one to
164. 6:29address here because it's just so
165. 6:31popular these days. It froths really
166. 6:33well, it tastes pretty good, it markets
167. 6:36really, really well as well. But oats
168. 6:38are a starch, they are a carbohydrate.
169. 6:41And when you process them into milk
170. 6:44form, you produce a liquid with a really
171. 6:46significant carbohydrate load and a high
172. 6:49glycemic response. The processing itself
173. 6:52breaks down the fiber that would
174. 6:54normally slow glucose absorption in
175. 6:56whole oats. So, a 200 mil serving of oat
176. 6:59milk typically contains around 15 to 17
177. 7:02g of carbohydrate. Rice milk sits even
178. 7:06higher. It's been measured with a
179. 7:07glycemic index comparable to glucose
180. 7:10itself. It's massive.
181. 7:13Now, compare that to whole cow's milk at
182. 7:15around 10 g of carbohydrate per 200 mil,
183. 7:18which also comes packaged with protein
184. 7:20and fat that further slows down the
185. 7:23sugar absorption and blunts the insulin
186. 7:26response. So, if you're having two or
187. 7:28three oat milk coffees a day, then
188. 7:30you're having two or three glucose
189. 7:32spikes that you may not have attributed
190. 7:34to anything in particular. You're not
191. 7:37eating anything sugary, but your blood
192. 7:39sugar is responding as though you have.
193. 7:42The better choices in terms of glucose
194. 7:44impact are unsweetened almond milk or
195. 7:47macadamia milk if you can get it, or
196. 7:50cow's milk. These are really good for
197. 7:51you. Almond milk is pretty low in
198. 7:54carbohydrates. Its primary macronutrient
199. 7:56is actually fat, and it won't move your
200. 7:58blood sugar in any meaningful way. Whole
201. 8:01cow's milk, despite its carbohydrate
202. 8:03content, has the most long-term evidence
203. 8:06behind it metabolically, largely because
204. 8:09the fat and protein matrix slows
205. 8:11digestion and the natural milk sugars
206. 8:14behave very differently to the rapidly
207. 8:16absorbed glucose in oats or rice milk.
208. 8:19Now, if you are going to use plant-based
209. 8:21milk, one thing that's really worth
210. 8:22doing, regardless of which one you
211. 8:24choose, is to actually read the label.
212. 8:27Many commercial barista edition oat
213. 8:29milks contain added sugar, and the
214. 8:31versions used in coffee shops very
215. 8:33frequently have sweetened syrups added
216. 8:36as a default. So, what you buy in a
217. 8:38carton from a supermarket and what goes
218. 8:40into your flat white at the coffee shop
219. 8:42can be very different things. Now,
220. 8:44having said all of that, I want to be
221. 8:46really clear about what the long-term
222. 8:47data on coffee actually shows because
223. 8:50it's really easy to come away from a
224. 8:51conversation like this and think that
225. 8:53coffee is a problem, but it's not.
226. 8:55Coffee is actually pretty good for you.
227. 8:58So, large prospective cohort studies,
228. 9:00including data from the EPIC study in
229. 9:02Europe, involving hundreds and hundreds
230. 9:04of thousands of people, have found
231. 9:06consistent associations between moderate
232. 9:08coffee consumption, so around two to
233. 9:10four cups per day, and reduced risk of
234. 9:13type 2 diabetes, Parkinson's disease,
235. 9:16certain liver conditions, and all-cause
236. 9:19mortality. And the reason it's so
237. 9:20important is that the bioactive
238. 9:22compounds in coffee, including
239. 9:25chlorogenic acids and polyphenols, have
240. 9:27genuine anti-inflammatory and
241. 9:30glucose-regulating properties that are
242. 9:32independent of the caffeine.
243. 9:35And the question I get asked all the
244. 9:36time around coffee is where is the line
245. 9:39with milk? Because a splash in your
246. 9:41coffee is very different to a large
247. 9:44cappuccino, but where is the line of
248. 9:46what's good and what's bad? So, from
249. 9:49what I can gather, a splash of whole
250. 9:51cow's milk somewhere in the region of a
251. 9:53tablespoon or a couple of tablespoons
252. 9:56adds roughly 1 to 2 g of carbohydrate
253. 10:00and a small amount of fat and protein.
254. 10:03And obviously, that is not going to
255. 10:05really sort of meaningfully affect your
256. 10:07blood glucose response in most people,
257. 10:09and the evidence supports this. Studies
258. 10:11using continuous glucose monitors in
259. 10:13healthy adults have consistently shown
260. 10:16that small amounts of dairy milk, not
261. 10:19the chocolate, but cow's milk, added to
262. 10:21coffee does not produce a significant or
263. 10:24prolonged glucose spike. But a large
264. 10:27cappuccino is an entirely different meal
265. 10:30altogether. A standard cappuccino from
266. 10:33Costa or Starbucks or wherever, made
267. 10:36with around 150 or 200 mil of milk,
268. 10:38delivers somewhere between 7 and 9 g of
269. 10:42carbohydrate. And if you're having that
270. 10:44before breakfast on a fasted system, you
271. 10:47are giving your pancreas a real job to
272. 10:50do. The milk itself is the meal at that
273. 10:53point. That is your breakfast. And the
274. 10:55combination of caffeine driven cortisol
275. 10:58and an incoming lactose load in a fasted
276. 11:01state is exactly the scenario that we've
277. 11:04been talking about here. So, for me, the
278. 11:06practical line, based on the available
279. 11:08evidence, is roughly this. A small
280. 11:11amount of milk up to around 50 mil of
281. 11:14semi-skimmed or whole cow's milk or an
282. 11:17unsweetened almond milk in a coffee
283. 11:19consumed after food is unlikely to cause
284. 11:23any meaningful disruption to your
285. 11:25glucose. But a large milky coffee drunk
286. 11:28before breakfast repeated two or three
287. 11:30times throughout the day with very
288. 11:33little activity is a very different
289. 11:35habit with a different metabolic
290. 11:38consequence. The issue isn't having a
291. 11:40coffee itself, but drinking it on an
292. 11:43empty stomach after a bad night's sleep
293. 11:44with oat milk or two sugars puts you on
294. 11:48a glucose roller coaster that you spend
295. 11:50the rest of the day trying to recover
296. 11:52from. And even though this might not
297. 11:54sound like much to some people, and you
298. 11:56know, some of you may be thinking this
299. 11:57is all a bit intense. This is just a
300. 11:59cappuccino you know, in the morning. I
301. 12:01get that, but if you repeat that habit
302. 12:04across hundreds or thousands of mornings
303. 12:06over decades, then it could have
304. 12:09consequences that you may never think
305. 12:11of. And in terms of energy, your first
306. 12:14drink and your first meal of the day
307. 12:16sets the hormonal and metabolic tone for
308. 12:19everything else that follows. So, if you
309. 12:22get those right, then the energy that
310. 12:24you feel at 2:00 or 3:00 in the
311. 12:26afternoon without reaching for another
312. 12:28coffee will tell you everything you need
313. 12:30to know. For me, the bottom line is
314. 12:32this. A tiny adjustment to when you
315. 12:34drink your coffee and what you put in it
316. 12:37is not a dramatic lifestyle overhaul. It
317. 12:40is not something you need to obsess over
318. 12:43or think about constantly, but if you do
319. 12:45it repeatedly every morning across years
320. 12:47and decades, it compounds in the same
321. 12:50way that any small repeated stress
322. 12:53compounds. If you had a tiny
323. 12:55misalignment in your car steering, you
324. 12:58know, barely noticeable day-to-day, and
325. 13:00you drove it like that for 20 years, the
326. 13:03wear on the tires and the suspension and
327. 13:06the chassis would be significant. Not
328. 13:08because any single journey damaged it,
329. 13:10but because the same small force applied
330. 13:13a thousands of times in the same
331. 13:15direction eventually leaves a mark. The
332. 13:19biology on blood sugar works the same
333. 13:21way. So, two or three unnecessary
334. 13:23glucose spikes every day for for years
335. 13:26is a meaningful cumulative load on your
336. 13:29insulin response, on your metabolic
337. 13:31health, and your cardiovascular system
338. 13:33as well. This is what the physiology and
339. 13:35the science tells us. And the flip side
340. 13:38of that is equally true as well. So,
341. 13:40getting it right doesn't just mean you
342. 13:42feel sharper and more energized to in
343. 13:44the afternoon without reaching for
344. 13:45another coffee, it means you are
345. 13:47actively reducing that cumulative load
346. 13:50morning by morning across the decades
347. 13:53that actually determines your long-term
348. 13:55health. It's just one small habit done
349. 13:58very slightly differently every morning.
350. 14:01And in decades time, your body will
351. 14:03notice a difference.