Nowadays, people have busy work lives and fast-paced lifestyles, so fast food is becoming increasingly popular. However, fast food is mostly deep-fried, so everyone must be aware of the dangers of Western fast food, especially when high-fat fast food is paired with coffee, which can make the harm even worse.
A study found that consuming high-saturated-fat fast food and drinking coffee has a more negative impact on blood sugar than not drinking coffee. Typically, after a healthy person eats a high-fat meal, their blood sugar levels peak. If high-fat food is combined with caffeine, blood sugar levels can rise to levels similar to those of a diabetic person.
A high-fat diet inhibits the GnT-4a enzyme, which promotes insulin secretion, leading to high blood sugar. The effect of caffeine doubles this harm. In simple terms, saturated fats affect the body's ability to clear sugar from the blood. When caffeine is added, the situation becomes much worse. Because sugar stays in the blood for too long, it can cause damage to organs.
The study was conducted on two groups of healthy men aged 20 to 30. Based on their body weight, they were given a specially prepared saturated fat drink, providing 1 gram per kilogram of body weight, to replace the energy from a fast-food meal. Then, 5 hours later, they drank two cups of caffeinated or low-caffeine coffee. The study showed that the group that only drank the saturated fat drink saw a 32% increase in blood sugar; whereas the group that drank both the saturated fat drink and coffee saw a staggering 65% increase!
The combination of fat and caffeine affected the connection between the pancreas and the digestive tract, making it harder for the sugar in the blood of both groups of men to be cleared. Furthermore, having them drink coffee 5 hours after the fat drink still caused blood sugar to rise, which indicates that ingested fat stays in the body for more than 5 hours to be fully digested. This means that lunch can affect the digestion of food eaten later.
In recent years, the dangers of Western fast food have received increasing attention, but many people are still very fond of it. For the sake of your health, the editor recommends that you eat fast food in moderation and, in particular, avoid drinking coffee at the same time.