Breaking News: Whoppers and Coffee Not Healthy!

Photograph by: Jim Noelker/Bloomberg News

"The bad news about fatty fast food just got worse. Researchers have found that a cup of coffee doubles the adverse health impacts of a greasy meal." - Vancouver Sun, 5 April 2011

False alarm! Well for the most part.  We coffee lovers have read that there are many health benefits for drinking a cup of coffee everyday.  Stumbling upon this article I thought my world was turned upside down.  I was lied to and deceived?!  But upon further inspection, the article assumes too many things, namely that everyone puts sugar into their coffee.  Wheww.  Doesn't apply to me.  Apparently fats found in fast food inhibit the body's ability to deal with sugars and remove it from the bloodstream.

Here is the relevant piece of the article,

The study, published April 1 in the Journal of Nutrition, examined the results of 11 active, healthy men, between 20 and 30 years of age, given one meal consisting of a special lipid concoction that had the saturated fat content of a cheeseburger, large fries and a shake, and six hours later, a second meal of a sugar-laden drink.

[Me interjecting]: Ahem, "Sugar-laden drink!" 

When sugar is consumed the body normally produces insulin, which takes sugar from the blood and distributes it to the muscles. But the fat meal apparently interfered with this process leaving blood sugar levels 32-per-cent higher than when the men had not ingested the fat beverage.

In the second part of the study, test subjects were given two mugs of coffee five hours after the fat beverage. An hour later, they were given the sugar drink. The results showed blood sugar levels were 65-per-cent higher than when the subjects had not ingested the fat and coffee. Beaudoin said the severity of the outcome -blood sugar spiking to pre-diabetic levels -was unexpected.

The study also looked at the levels of incretin hormones, which are released in the gastro-intestinal tract to signal the pancreas to release insulin to dissipate sugar in the blood. Ingesting the fat beverage seemed to blunt the hormones' responses to carbohydrates. In short, fat and caffeine impaired communication between the pancreas and gut, making it more difficult for the body to remove sugar from the blood."

Nevertheless of it being not applicable to Metro Espresso readership :-), if you know someone who loves some BK or McD's, it may be useful to pass on some scientific knowledge.