Why is it that a cardiologist is warning us about drinking black coffee in the morning on an empty stomach? We have known for many years that drinking coffee is good for you. Coffee drinkers gain a degree of protection from getting type II diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, several kinds of cancer and heart disease. Is the issue of drinking black coffee on an empty stomach one of splitting hairs of is there something to it?
Morning Black Coffee and Cortisol Levels
Black coffee on an empty stomach, according to a cardiologist, Dr Alok Chopra, causes anxiety, swings in blood pressure, jitteriness, and palpitations because it raises levels of cortisol in the blood for longer than is normal in the morning.
What Is Cortisol and What Does It Do?
According to the Cleveland Clinic, cortisol is a hormone excreted by the adrenal glands. When levels of cortisol are too low or too high they can have adverse effects on your health. High levels of cortisol can raise blood pressure, cause elevated blood sugar, and result in muscle weakness of the thighs and upper arms. Individuals with significantly high cortisol levels for long times develop a “Cushingoid” appearance with rounded shoulders and a rounded “moon face.” If one has low levels of cortisol that can lead to persistent fatigue, low blood pressure, poor appetite and unintended weight loss.
Diurnal Cortisol Variation and Coffee Concerns
The body has a daily cycle of cortisol excretion with levels that are highest in the morning and decline over the day. Thus, the body has a normal cycle that wakes us and gives us energy in the morning. The concern about drinking coffee on and empty stomach is that doing so dumps a lot of coffee with the stimulant caffeine into the blood along with an already high for the day level of cortisol. Caffeine directly affects the pituitary gland causing it to signal the adrenal glands to produce more cortisol. This happens more abruptly when black coffee is consumed without anything else in the stomach to slow absorption into the blood stream. What happens when too much caffeine in the system on top of the normal morning cortisol spike is that the body has the equivalent of a stress response every day, day after day. It turns out that women are more susceptible to this artificially produced “stress response than men are.
How to Avoid a Morning Coffee-Induced Stress Response
When the caffeine in coffee is diluted with the contents of a full stomach the total amount absorbed into the body is eventually the same. However, caffeine enters the blood stream more slowly and takes longer for the full amount to become active in the body. In regard to a morning “stress response,” such an artificially produced effect is avoided by waiting until you have breakfast before drinking your morning coffee, black or with cream or milk such as having a latte instead of a black Americano or espresso to start the day. The good thing about drinking your morning coffee no matter how you take it is that over the long haul you will be reducing your likelihood of getting type II diabetes, several types of cancer, neurodegenerative diseases and heart disease. You will less anxiety and artificially induced stress responses if you have your morning coffee after eating breakfast!