Try to avoid coffee with fast food, it`s harmful

Last Updated: Apr 01, 2011, 00:00 AM IST

London: Got a craving for fast food? Make sure that you avoid coffee to wash the meal down, for a study says that it can cause a rise in your blood sugar levels.

Researchers have found that a healthy person`s blood sugar levels spike after eating a high-fat meal, and that the spike doubles after having both a fatty meal and caffeinated coffee -- jumping to levels similar to those of people at risk for diabetes, the `Journal of Nutrition` reported.

"The results tell us that saturated fat interferes with the body`s ability to clear sugars from the blood and, when combined with caffeinated coffee the impact can be worse.

"Having sugar remain in our blood for long periods is unhealthy because it can take a toll on our body`s organs," lead researcher Marie-Soleil Beaudoin of University of Guelph in Canada said.


For the study, healthy men drank about one gram of the fat beverage for every kilogramme of body weight for their first meal. Six hours later, they were given a second meal consisting of a sugar drink.

Typically when we ingest sugar, the body produces insulin which takes the sugar out of the blood and distributes it to our muscles, said Beaudoin.