Science Says No Coffee Before Breakfast?! 

I'm used to someone on a cooking show going "I've prepared something in advance", but "I just so happen to have the necessary medical device implanted in my arm" is on a whole other level xD

Scientists: "Our research is often perceived as being pointless when taken out of context." Media: "Scientists say their research is pointless!"

"I have this thing implanted in my arm because I'm curious about it" Okay yeah, definitely my kind of people

Did you know? In Turkish, breakfast means "kahvaltı". It is a combination of two words "kahve - altı" meaning "before coffee".

“But then I also don’t hold any qualifications in coffee.” *coughs in world’s largest coffee tasting, barista championship, and the cause of 95% of my and countless others’ love for coffee*

The most shocking thing for me in this video, is that James only drinks coffee twice a day.

I really appreciate James' ability to make it clear that this is an interesting topic and his findings and opinions should not be taken as infallible. I wish more content creators had this level of awareness and respect of their viewers.

Ideally, you'd want to do each of these spike measurements in (at least) week intervals. You don't know if any difference in results are significant until you know what the standard deviations are. To get that, you need sets of identical tests. The more, the better.

As a person with Type 1 diabetes who wears a continuous glucose monitor, I can absolutely corroborate these spikes. As James said, everyone’s body responds differently, but if I drink coffee before or after breakfast, my spikes are calmer. The diabetic’s relationship to coffee is complex, especially the diabetic barista. It was just nice to see other people discussing this issue.

no qualifications in coffee? Umm, have you *heard* your slurping skill, sir?

As someone who also doesn't eat breakfast, but who typically drinks coffee before I have my first meal of the day, I would've been interesting in how that kind of graph would look. I don't have a continuous blood glucose monitor of my own, so I can't do it myself.

They left out a group. They had rested/no coffee, unrested/coffee, and unrested/coffee. But to round out the test there should have been a rested/coffee group.

what about: no exercise, no breakfast, just coffee? asking for a friend.

"Nescafe instant coffee...that's not how my mornings starts."

It would be interesting to see a graph of an extra trial where you consume a sugary, milky coffee drink instead of breakfast, so that your glucose spike happens around the same time that your caffeine begins to kick in. I can't imagine it being much different than the coffee>breakfast graph, but so many people consume coffee in this manner that it's worth testing.

I would have liked to see how similar two spikes look to each other when having an identical breakfast on different days :) i.e. how reproducible they are

“Caffeine doesn’t perk you up, it just stops you calming down” interesting

Hi James. Turkish word for "breakfast" is "kahvaltı", which literally means "before coffee" 😊🇹🇷

You mentioned that you rarely eat breakfast, and I wonder if eating breakfast 4 days in a row may have calmed your glucose response

I tend to dismiss studies in general until enough research has been done to warrant my attension. I am diabetic and tend to test my blood often. I too find that porridge is lethal to my blood sugar levels, as is whole grains in general. The diabetic groups tend to recommend such things to be part of a healthy diet. My body says no, not a good idea at all.

I'm a Pharmacologist from the University of Edinburgh (also about to start a PhD) with a lot of training in endocrinology, diet, diabetes and cardiovascular disease etc and this video is a perfect example of heterogeneity across different groups of people - I talk about diet, blood sugar, insulin, fasting etc with so many people I know and they don't understand why I give them advice that I don't even follow myself because I already know how my body responds to certain foods, diets and eating habits etc. It's such an interesting topic so I can see how you got invested and ended up getting yourself the blood glucose monitor!

This series always has the best intros. Always a pleasure.

I love you for the way you are communicating. The way you explained why you did this and how this isn't necessary for everyone and in no way necessary to obsess about is amazing.

Every video I appreciate your character and honesty more and more. I don't usually comment on any video but I must let you know that I appreciate you sharing all your experience and knowledge. I started a few months ago with my french press and finding your instructions greatly improved my cups. I assume this comment will be lost since this video is months old, but this video just emphasized what I respect about you from your videos. I am sure that your views and subscribers say this louder than I do, but I greatly appreciate what you put out into the world and must thank you for it. Please take care, the world need more of your energy out there for years to come.

It would have been wonderful to have seen a Day Zero (No Coffee, No Breakfast) for baseline and a Day 5 (Breakfast then Coffee) just to give a more rounded idea of how your specific blood glucose mornings fluctuate. Regardless, great work sir thoroughly interesting.

Hey, James. I’m a fellow blood enthusiast (and a cognitive psychology student). Turns out the same ingredient (such as oats) can cause different blood sugar and insulin spikes in different forms. For example, the glycemic index of steel-cut oatmeal averages under 55, falling in the low GI category, but instant oatmeal is estimated to have a high GI of 79, even though there’s no sugar added, and instant oats are technically whole foods. This is mostly because when oat groats are processed to be rolled oats or instant oats, their strong plant cell walls are ruptured open, allowing the intracellular contents (mostly starch) to be more easily absorbed, and resulting in an exaggerated blood sugar spike and insulin response. This is also why drinking a smoothie can cause a bigger spike than eating the foods themselves; smoothies just take so much less time to consume, and blenders do a much better job of shredding foods than human teeth do. So from an insulin standpoint, intact whole foods are generally more friendly than highly processed ones. You can check out these papers to get a more precise explanation: Mackiem, A. R., Bajka, B. H., & Rigby, N. M. (2017). Oatmeal particle size alters glycemic index but not as a function of gastric emptying rate. American Journal of Physiology-Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology, 313(3), G239-G246. Grundy, M. M., Edwards, C. H., Mackie, A. R., Gidley, M. J., Butterworth, P. J., & Ellis, P. R. (2016). Re-evaluation of the mechanisms of dietary fibre and implications for macronutrient bioaccessibility, digestion and postprandial metabolism. British Journal of Nutrition, 116(5), 816-833. (Oh right, love your channel!)

Science can mind its own business and leave me and my coffee out of it 🤣

As an exercise physiologist who understands insulin response post prandial and gives advice to patients regularly. Well done on A) your unbiased reporting of data B) your clarity of reporting information and other health based knowledge, and knowing where to stop with health advice C) Realising that everyone is indeed different, a MASSIVE factor the media in particular doesn't consider with respect to research.

Watching this while having my morning coffee before my breakfast.

169 people were drinking their pre-breakfast coffee while watching this.

I'm absolutely pro-science, but as I have coffee for breakfast and don't eat until about 2pm, I'm happy to keep doing that.

As a T2 diabetic, thank you for bringing this up so that people like me will know to investigate further then run our own tests because, as you definitely stress, we're all different. Genetically speaking, some us (hi!) have a higher tolerance for caffeine (somehow...magic, maybe?), so there's that, too. We're all different but we need to know in what ways that difference affects us so that we can "control our own destinies" as best we can. Thanks!

Other youtubers: Giveaway is US & CA only, suck it James: If you're not in one of the 37 countries the manufacturer can reach I'm really sorry and I'm trying to find a way around that Good Sir, I would tip my hat if I had one, don't ever change

But what if coffee is breakfast?

Thanks for testing this! Yes individuals vary but eating protein first is important - I've read other studies that support your physical results

Didn't hear of the study til now, and what was the most interesting discovery for me was the impact of protein on blood glucose levels. It's crazy that "a guy talking about coffee on youtube" goes to great lengths not only to talk about coffee, but about how culture and science intertwine the balance of regular life. Thank you so much for doing what you're doing - it's a fascinating adventure.

This blue-red-yellow-brownish one has got to be my favourite sweater so far in your videos.

5:44 Small remark: Your spike isn't lower here, I think. Your spike is more or less the same. Your base glucose level was already lower.

This really resonates with things I already intuitively know! I've always felt super hungry on days when I get poor sleep (less than 6 hours) and blood glucose spikes make so much sense as an explanation. Also, people always seem to talk about how oatmeal is super filling but for me it's always felt only slightly better than sugary breakfast cereal unless I add a lot of fat and/or protein, so seeing how high those spikes were with just oatmeal (with or without the coffee) was really interesting. I bet my body is treating the carbs similarly but others might not get quite as high of a spike

No thanks! My break-FAST is usually 4-5pm. Can’t wait that long for coffee 😅

World:" james, what are your thoughts on instant coffee" James: "That's not how my mornings start"

James, I love so much that you have taken a scientific study and applied it to real life. As someone who practices nutritional medicine, It always bothers me to see scientific studies like the one you describe. Nobody has pure glucose for breakfast. Even the worst, most sugary cereals contain a small amount of fibre, which completely alters the speed at which sugar will enter the bloodstream. The protein tidbit is a fabulous intervention and one I wish I saw recommended by diabetic educators more in Australia, where I live.

No breakfast. Just coffee. Problem solved.

Your results are the same as mine. Love hearing about your journey with food. I haven’t had breakfast in years, unless you consider two tablespoons of salted butter in your coffee breakfast.

I love that you’re legitimately careful to qualify scientific statements and studies. You’re also very good at taking a scientific approach to your tests. It’s appreciated, and makes me like your (amazing) channel all the much more.

Last Video: „Lets brew some 70 year old coffee” This Video: “This Video we are looking on human blood” This is going in a strange direction smh

I broke my pancreas 3 years ago. I bolus for coffee but can sometimes see my levels sustained as I drink my coffee over the course of the morning. As you saw in your test, activity and the protein hit before is the key to controlling that spike. Thanks for great videos. I’m learning a ton as I try and decide on what espresso machine I want.

Thanks for the video. I also wonder what role fat played in your protein before carbs, since the hormone CCK is released when eating fat and helps slow digestion.

I think we're all taking the fact that James presents everything he researches in such a brilliant way for granted - this man always makes sure his sources (coffee or whatever information it might be) are only from credible ones, and it's a delight to see! I think this is why many can watch any of his videos even without any interest in coffee, he's just that good at presenting information in a very succinct yet engaging way, an inspiration for sure!

As a type 1 diabetic, seeing 8.5mmol/L described as a pretty big spike in blood glucose is very, very jarring

I love your presentation and visual style. The subtle details like the second you out of focus in the background or one of the eggs spinning play so well with the focused minimalist aesthetic

I always eat big early. I’m not even hungry when “lunch time” comes around. I drink coffee early, too and never again until the next day. I take all my supplements with that first meal (after). This help helps me to not be sleepy, improves my mood and makes my work day much more tolerable. I eat a light dinner and avoid cheese close to bed time. If a food item makes me gassy or sleepy i stop eating it. I avoid bread. I no longer drink alcohol or smoke. No one asked but i feel healthy from all this.

As an endocrinologist I applaud your approach and scientific method (and I absolutely love your channel). You are also quite accurate in describing oGTT, however it should also be clarified that capillary blood glucose does not accurately reflect venous glucose levels, and, as you state, no real conclusions can be drawn from a single experiment conducted in a single individual. Thanks for the amazing content, I will go check the study.

James: I have an implant that reads my blood glucose level every 15 minutes. No, I will not tell you why.

Thank you for the knowledge. For me personally, if I don't have coffee first thing in the morning, I can't prepare breakfast. I guess it was born of habit because my mom, my ajnts and pretty much everyone I know are like that.

Really, I find myself “stunned” by all you have shared and explained in this video! Very interesting and informative. I have been wearing a CGM for 5 months now because I am interested in knowing how everything I consume affects my blood glucose. I always drink 3 to 4 cups of coffee first thing every morning, often not eating until noon or later. Coffee usually results in a drop in my blood glucose.

No one: Absolutely no one: James Hoffman: implants blood glucose device in arm for fun Me: Nice, the man's a cyborg

I guess the coffee is working. I'm here early.

I love most of your videos, but this one is now one of my favorites. Why? It mixes coffee with body science and gives us useful info to try on our every day lives. Thanks James!

I‘m one of those, who can‘t have coffee on an empty stomach. Tried and tested a few times & I always end up with a migrane, that will last a whole day. I can‘t do anything but sleep it off. That‘s the reason, why I always have my coffee after lunch, when I‘m at my lowest energy.

This ended up being surprisingly interesting and relevant to me as a type 1 diabetic, as the glucose spikes are something I battle with every day! I also find it funny how you revieal to be using a Freestyle Libre only a few weeks after I started using it myself! Good stuff James, thank you!

I have been absolutely loving these vintage intro's!!! They remind me of the Stranger Things intro! Also just wanted to say that over the years I have been seeing the quality of your video's (and especially your editing) go up!

Absolutely fascinating! İ love n=1 experiments. İ do not wear a continuous glucose monitor but i do check my blood for ketones and glucose in the morning, 2 hours after waking, before i eat breakfast, but after i drink coffee. Frankly i wouldn't even dream of giving up my pre-breakfast coffee. What i am checking is how my evening meal affects my morning glucose and ketone levels. Thank you

Very nice presentation . I actually use coffee and light breakfast as part of a pre workout routine: Instant coffee with 1% milk and a little flavored sweetener syrup. Then I have some sort of carbohydrate along the lines of a breakfast biscuit or Pop Tart. Your research shows that I'm setting myself up for a respectable glucose spike. While I'm still cleaning the Pop Tart bits out of my mouth with my tongue , I grab a sport drink and head down into my basement gym for a brief full body workout involving bodyweight, dumbbell, and barbell exercises followed by an equally lengthy yoga cool down. Your research suggests, my workout is "boosted" by that glucose spike and the spike is also equally flattened out by said workout. The yoga happens the same time the spike is fading back to normal. Very enlightening. Thank you for your efforts and contributions.

I took part in this study when I was at the University of Bath, very interesting to see someone discussing it from a coffee-lover's perspective. Surprised by the 'protein significantly reducing blood glucose spike' result as I conducted an almost identical study with opposite results (which I am aware was in disagreement with the majority of literature on the topic but is interesting nonetheless). Thanks for the video bud!

Nutrition student here: You would need to drink water equal the the amount of coffee for day 1. While you had the same amount of carbohydrates, the difference in volume means it takes longer time for your stomach to pass on all the carbohydrates to be absorbed in your intestine. Like wise, protein and fat also increases the time your stomach needs to empty (also increasing total volume, again also increasing the time for gastric emptying). Otherwise cool video :)

Coffee is my go to breakfast with grass fed butter and teaspoon of teaspoon of unrefined coconut oil....ear a low card,or no carb lunch and dinner, at 2pm 5pm.

I do love your thoughtful content. You have a great voice. Definitely make it easy to keep listening.

Turkish word for breakfast means "light meal to eat before coffe". You can see how coffe can change and transform a steppe originated culture.

I’m a type 1 diabetic and I literally just got off the phone with my diabetic clinician where we were trying to pin point the reasons behind my spikes. I always have a CGM on (at no cost to me- god bless the NHS). I have definitely been drinking more coffee in the mornings during lockdown. I’m not going to treat anything in the video as an alternative to clinical advice of course, but it’s certainly interesting and I’ll keep an eye out for it. Obviously the huge variable is that I’m dependent upon insulin injections so my body doesn’t make its own adjustments. They’re always fascinating these videos, keep up the good work James!

Coffee usually IS my breakfast, so this is mildly concerning.

This is a simple but relevant video. Lots of people like me are looking for the best way to start their day. For me, working out is something I have always wanted to be able to do in the morning rather than the afternoon. The issue with this is protein intake. Most people consume protein throughout the day, providing a base for going into a workout as well as to add onto with a shake and meal afterwards to maximize recovery and muscle gain. So, trying to workout in the morning means either less protein or no protein going into the session. So, when you add coffee to the mix in the morning, if you spike glucose, it can further complicate digestion, protein intake, and maybe having to stop your workout to take a bathroom break. But, many athletes have coffee anyways, because it is a morning routine thing. So, I guess the real follow up would be, does coffee and carbs or coffee & protein have a negative effect on digestion/protein synthesis? I'll keep looking around for takes on this question. But, this little bit was very good. Thanks!

Love the n=1 experiment report! It really demonstrates how you need to personalize and test your nutrition, not just assume that the science on it is universal.

As a diabetic I found this particularly interesting. I see the difference in my blood glucose on my days at the gym or if I have coffee too.

I’m a recent convert to the ketogenic diet so found this fantastically interesting. A couple of particularly reputable sources stress the complexity of metabolic processes. This might explain the results not being consistent as you pointed out in this video. Exercise exerting a very positive effect on blood glucose levels or spikes has been identified more generally in the literature so this result in this little study appears both correct and important!! Good stuff

Here I am.. Sipping coffee, without breakfast in my belly, rocking my infant who kept me from having a good night’s sleep. WHATA LIFE! Great video, brother.☕️

not only everyone is different, each individual is different from himself in different days as a consequence of a multitude of factors, such as sleep quantity and quality, nutrition etc

Me, watching this while drinking coffee and eating cake: "well damn, this glucose stuff sounds bad"

This comment is not directly related to this video, but, as a lover of coffee, a chaser of morning alertness and quite possibly a caffeine addict, I wanted to take the opportunity to say something. I've binged close to every video you've ever made about coffee and needed to tell you about the impact you've so meticulously given to my life and daily habit by opening this Pandora's Box with your knowledge and content. And with this amazing video quality and craftsmanship by dialing in to the minute and nitty gritty details of my most beloved drink, you sir, You, You've completely ruined coffee for me.

My father in law is diabetic and he uses that device with the dot on his arm. He absolutely hates it.

I remember reading this article a few weeks ago. Didn't they also use foods that were high in sugar? Adding things like orange juice etc. is going to spike your glucose no matter what.

The blood sugar monitor in your arm is the most James Hoffmann thing I have seen in a while. :D

Thank you James for discussing an interesting article & making a fun video related to it, more coffee science please!

Thumbs up 👍 and A+ for this video for one reason. NO background music playing during the talk!!! I could hear every word! Excellent 👍

I’m very much in love with this kind of studies, where glucose spikes get reduced. Loved how the co-relation with coffee was actually derived to the meal

I would love to have seen a glucose test in the order of coffee, exercise, breakfast

As a person with 1 diabetes, I deffinitely noticed much bigger spikes in my glucose levels in the morning after I drink my coffe :). Interesting video, cheers.

Good on you, James! For a complete amateur ;) really good reasoning and use of science in practice. I have been deep diving in this subject for as long as I've been a home barista..ten years. I have also been on a ketogenic animal based diet for all those years. I'm not a doctor nor giving health advice ;) ...but..never been healthier, felt better, in my life (53 yo). Keep it up!

James, I'm loving watching your filmmaking skills mature. You could legitimately make a full scale, high quality documentary/movie. Keep it up! I would watch pretty much anything you make at this point, coffee related or not!

Well that was a lot to unpack James! I was recently diagnosed with Type II Diabetes and was actively encouraged to have breakfast every day Where as before and for all of my adult life I didn't eat breakfast apart from on the holidays, such as Xmas and Easter. The effects on my blood glucose were horrendous for the entire time I was eating breakfast, They were supposed to help reduce my levels for the day with healthy eating. I have since done an experiment, where I stopped eating breakfast but maintained my morning dose of coffee. Surprisingly my blood glucose levels maintained there average levels through till lunchtime, with maybe a 0.4 point drop during the morning. I then spent the next week eating breakfast again but with out coffee, and oh my word! My blood glucose levels went all over the place, going high and staying high or worse going high and then dropping below pre-breakfast levels rapidly in an hour. I have since gone back to drinking just my coffee in the morning and will have lunch instead. Overall my blood glucose levels have now levelled out over the last six months and I am feeling much better for it. Keep up the great videos James! Always a pleasure to watch!

tq for sharing the effects of eating protein first before carbs. this is illuminating useful info

With coffee and meals, as someone that struggles with iron deficiency, I’m more concerned about iron absorption, which falls flat on its face specially on vegetarian/vegan meals that provide mostly non-heme iron.

Almost spit out my espresso at :33 when Jame’s clone popped in. 🤯 But you know what, what this world needs is definitely more James Hoffmans. Carry on James, carry on.

I’m a type 2 diabetic and been following very low carb diet and check my blood glucose twice a day. I don’t have breakfast and I have coffee with a splash of cream around 11am (no spike in blood glucose) then have bacon and eggs fried in butter around 1pm no spike in blood glucose when tested at 30, 60 and 90 minutes 👍🏼

ZOE Health Study echos your findings. Most cereals/porridge really bad for glucose spikes. And exercise after meals also really good at controlling blood glucose.

James - thanks for the video. Not sure how long you used the CGM before, but I think that your test was a little too short. You mentioned that you don't normally eat breakfast. That would suggest your body is adapted towards being fasted in the morning. Notice how your spike was lower with each day of eating the high carbohydrate breakfast. It is probably that the major part of the spike mitigation was actually related to your body up-regulating the pathways that quickly process carbohydrates. Of course, the exercise / walk is something separate all together. I appreciate your experiment, however. As a Type 1 diabetic, I have to manually inject insulin to try and achieve "normal" blood glucose profiles. I've always read that it's not normal to go over a blood glucose of 7, but in your video (and others), I see people going over 7 all the time - which makes me feel better about the times that it happens to me (even though I'm always trying to avoid this)! Thanks for this video and your other fun productions.

Love the scientific aspect of this video! We seem to have a similar sense of humor, I've had a parallel Kevin show up in three of my episodes already! Thanks for the video and going in to the details!

I expected to see James with Mustache as a donor

Since I took early retirement I’ve more time in the morning, so my morning routine is to make a double espresso. I eat 2 or 3 satsumas before the espresso, I find the acidity of the fruit intensifies the coffee flavour, I then eat a bowl of porridge. I’d love to know how this morning ritual affects my blood glucose levels. Anyway I find it very enjoyable.

It saw the title,clicked and listened with interest until the end. I Will think about what I learned, but I dont hola out much hope that I Will chance my lifelong routine of drinking one cup of expreso upon waking; breakfast later.. Thanks for sharing.