Coffee

I don’t have personal experience, but this was a topic of conversation at D Camp - that caffeine will raise blood sugars for some. The nutritionist, a T1D himself, noted having to bolus for his coffee even with no carbs in it.

Same happens to me, I take a quarter unit per cup even if I use Splenda–because the caffeine makes my liver release glucose.

The first ingredient in powdered creamers is sugar.

I used to use Splenda and heavy cream in my morning 4-espresso-shot Americano but was needing to bolus almost a unit to cover the BS increase.

I’ve stopped the Splenda and now use uncut Sucralose, so none of the bulking agents, along with the dash of heavy cream. Doing better and not having to bolus for it.

But my dietician also told me that caffeine affects your stress hormones, which will raise your blood sugar.

Valerie

Valerie,

where do you pick up the uncut sucralose from? That sounds a whole lot better than “sugar free sweetener with sugar for bulk.”

4 shot Americano, yum! My morning coffee is a mixture of a German import and my local coffee shops espresso. Thers nothing like good espresso!

Actually, what you’re saying makes sense. If there’s no sugar or carbs of any kind in your coffee (or tea, in my case), and it spikes you, there’s no other explanation than a liver dump. And what causes the liver dump? It might as well be adrenaline, because that’s definitely one of the hormones that does it. And some people may be more sensitive to caffeine than others, so some experience that adrenaline surge and others don’t.

My CDE told me that it is the caffeine in coffee that raises the blood sugar for some people. I know it does for me. I LOVE flavored cappuccino but have been avoiding it of late because of the ‘rise’ my BG does to me :frowning: :frowning:

I just have to weigh in on this!!! LOL…IT CAUSES MY NUMBERS TO SOAR TOO!!! So…I went to drinking Black Tea…It’s good!!! Anda as of late, I have been using the Almnond milk!!! It tastes soooooo…sooooo…good. I use it for my cereal too. I love the Cherios Multigrain cereal.!!! I was very skeptial but now I’m hooked!! It has very few carbs if any!!!Try it and see how well your blood surgar respondst!!! It is really good!! I would not lie!!! LOL

MUST…HAVE…COFFEE! It sends me up too so I just bolus 1 unit per cup for it (LOT’s of cups through out the day)

Was waiting for you to post! hahaha. Your the one I was thinking of when I said coffee can spike people. I never knew until you posted it Doris.

Hope all is well. =^)

Years ago I got into a discussion with a doctor about that. He basicaly said I was nuts & coffee did not raise BS. When the studies started coming out saying that it did, I really wanted to send him a copy.

Hey onesaint. Doing good. Coffee is my days drink LOL! Bad day or good I GOT to have my coffee. I spent a week with my g-mother who thought that coffee was only for when you woke up in the morning. I came home!!! LOL! She was strick about it. Me on the other hand? I drink it b/f I go to bed! LOL! She didn’t get that. Sooooo Done with out coffee and wasn’t in the best of moods then. LOL!

Just give me the coffee and no one will get hurt!!! I drink the good stuff all day. 2 tbsp canned whipped cream (~1 carb) and a touch of heavy cream. Haven’t noticed that it causes a rise… I’ll have to test it out.

LOL! I know the feeling!

Hi Michelle,

I’ve noticed that my blood glucose concentration increases when I drink espresso or coffee, with no added sugar. I’ve heard that this doesn’t happen to everyone. I’m still trying to figure out the effective dose and timing, but it seems like ~8 oz of drip coffee tends to bring my blood sugars up ~80 mg/dL. Since I correct 1 unit per 80 mg/dL above my target BSL range, I will dose 1 unit for ever 8 oz of coffee I drink, typically 20 minutes prior to drinking any coffee. l tend to drink my coffee with heavy cream or with unsweetened almond milk, which has about 2 g of carbs per serving. When I first noticed this trend, I started drinking 8 oz of unsweetened cold brew coffee with nothing added to it. I drank it first thing in the morning, and only when my blood sugars were within normal range, so I knew that other food and the dawn phenomenon/high morning blood sugars were not the culprit.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like the amount of caffeine in drip coffee/cold brew/espresso is carefully monitored, since the mg of caffeine on coffee beverages are rarely reported within a reliable margin. That said, when I use the same source of coffee and the same amount/dose of coffee, with no added sugar or milk (with sugar), I still see a spike. That does mean something.

I’ve seen a decent amount of arguments for and against whether coffee affects blood glucose levels and if so, why doesn’t it have a consistent/comparable effect among diabetics. These are interesting questions that I truly don’t think anyone has a great understanding of at this time. That said, since the effect of coffee/caffeine relies on the adrenaline pathway, and the release of adrenaline increases the breakdown of glycogen from the liver into glucose released into the blood, it makes sense to me that coffee would increase blood glucose levels. I find it interesting that it doesn’t affect everyone’s levels!

I’m still testing the effects that coffee have on my body. I’ll keep you posted if I notice any other important trends that might be helpful.

At the very least, I hope it helps to know that you’re not alone in this :slight_smile: