In the ongoing caffeine chronicles, researchers have determined that caffeine seems to increase the levels of glucose in the blood, which is non-ideal for diabetics:
Giving caffeine to a small group of people with type 2 diabetes caused their levels of the blood sugar glucose to rise through the day, especially after meals, researchers at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, found.
"Caffeine appears to disrupt glucose metabolism in a way that could be harmful to people with type-2 diabetes," James Lane, a Duke medical psychologist who led the study, said in a telephone interview.
My first reaction when I read this was, "We're just now finding this out about caffeine? Isn't caffeine one of the most studied substances given its prevalence in society?" {Yes, these are the kinds of questions that arm chair commentators often ask, without bothering to crack open a new Firefox tab to actually take a deeper look.) Turns out, this particular issue
had been studied before, but to different results:
The new findings seem to run counter to previous research regarding diabetes and caffeine. Earlier studies indicated that people who drank coffee had a reduced risk of type-2 diabetes, and those who drank the most coffee had the lowest risk.
Hmm, so how do you wind up getting completely opposite results while studying the same thing? Answer: the wonders of modern technology!
The researchers used new technology -- a tiny glucose monitor embedded under the abdominal skin -- to monitor the glucose levels continuously in 10 people, average age 63.
On days when the participants were given four tablets containing caffeine equivalent to four cups of coffee, their average daily sugar levels rose 8 percent compared to days when the same people were given four placebo tablets, the researchers reported in the journal Diabetes Care.
Unfortunately, four placebo tablets are not going to make it possible to get through work in the morning; if it's not one thing, it's twenty-three others...
