BG Rise on Coffee ... What Else Might Do It?

Food
1

I went on a weekend jaunt recently - my second trip since dx w/T1, but the first where I was reliant on restaurants. Ordinarily I drink black tea - and oceans of it too, without more than a point or two fluctuation - so I didn't expect coffee to spike my BG. But it did, a good 30 pts, and unless I corrected immediately it lasted between two and three hours. Not good.

So now I know to avoid coffee unless I dose for it, and a couple of quick online searches seem to indicate it's not an uncommon reaction. And now I'm wondering - what other carb-less or very low carb consumables are known to sometimes do this?

2

I'd be surprised if there aren't others, but caffeine is the only one I'm aware of.

However, caffeine is added to LOTS of things you would never imagine. So keep an eye on that.

Caffeine hits me hard too. I have to bolus as if I'm eating 20g of carb for my morning 16oz, with a mere 2g of actual carb from cream in it.

3

i too bolus for coffee, it can raise me from 30 - 50 points, just SBucks drip with a splash of half-n-half. However, for me...I'm not certain if it is just the coffee or the DP that happens in the morning...either way, around the same time, drinking coffee, I have to bolus 1 unit.

4

My AM rise is well-established as a combo of DP and caffeine. However, it's worse with coffee than without -- consistently.

Pure speculation, but I'm guessing that in part the stimulative impact on the endocrine system -- release of adrenaline, cortisol, etc. -- caused by caffeine is a big part of it. Same signaling when under stress.

If I have decaf, I can go without the phony 20g carb bolus.

Unfortunately, DP and coffee consumption occur at the same time, and I'm not willing to give up my coffee to empirically sort it out :-)

5

I so far don't have problems with coffee, I tried coffee for the first time on the pump today so that's a new thing and I'm curious how it'll go lol. But on MDI I never spiked with coffee and often didn't bolus with it unless it was something from starbucks with 20+ carbs in it or if I need coffee with a bunch of creamer.

6

Oh yeah, stay away from that stuff. Coffeemate -- might as well just put sugar in your coffee!

7

I prefer heavy cream in coffee or tea as the weaker stuff like skim milk will spike my bg.

8

here's anold discussion on coffee with 27 pages of replies

my CDE reminded me the other day I'd promised to do some basal testing, and NOT to drink any coffee during the process. Also don't have coffee before you get a fasting blood test.

9

I(type 1 on pump)noticed the same effect with coffee (30mg spike) and when I asked both my Endo and his dietician. Both said coffee usually lowers your blood sugar but each individual may be different. My girlfriend (type 1 on pump) and I did our own little experiment. We both had the same coffee/skim milk for breakfast and her blood sugar dropped and mine went up 23pts. The next morning we had the same tea/skim milk and both bg stayed the same. Go figure!