NEW YORK (Reuters) - Consuming caffeine and sugar together can trick the brain into believing that the blood sugar level is too low, even though it is above the threshold for hypoglycemia, say researchers in England.
Caffeine affects the brain in two ways, explains Dr. David Kerr, consultant physician at the Royal Bournemouth Hospital in Bournemouth, U.K. "It drops your blood flow in your brain and at the same time it tells the brain to demand more glucose (sugar). So it has this dichotomy, and the end result is that the brain thinks it's getting less sugar than it actually is... Now we're not talking about a huge dose of caffeine here, we're only talking about 2 to 3 cups of coffee."
Kerr led a team of researchers in a study of cerebral blood flow after participants ingested caffeine and sugar. The study involved 11 healthy volunteers, both male and female, aged between 23 to 64 years. The team found that caffeine decreases blood flow to the brain for up to five hours, and possibly longer.
In an interview with Reuters, Kerr explained that the brain is very sensitive to blood sugar levels because it requires a constant supply of glucose, yet it cannot store the energy source in the same way that muscle and liver can. Given the brain's sensitivity to blood sugar levels, a decreased blood flow to the brain coupled with a slightly lowered (but not hypoglycemic) blood glucose may cause the brain to perceive a false state of hypoglycemia. "It might explain why from time to time people have some bizarre symptoms which they used to (attribute) to hypoglycemia. Then when we started to measure sugar levels, we found these people weren't hypoglycemic," says Kerr.
Contrary to intuition, consuming a load of sugar actually decreases blood sugar levels. Although there is an initial rise in blood sugar levels, the body reflexively responds by producing insulin, which signals cells to take up sugar from the blood, ultimately resulting in a slightly lower than normal blood sugar level. "Now that might not seem to matter, but it could be important if you've got caffeine on board," explains Kerr. "The sort of scenario I could imagine would be young children taking a couple of (cans) of cola and a couple of cookies... which contains a lot of carbohydrates and a lot of caffeine, and you just wonder whether or not, a few hours after that, they might run into problems."
The "problems" Kerr speaks of are those normally attributed to hypoglycemia?shaking, sweating, intense hunger, difficulty in thinking properly, and impaired performance at work or with complex machines.
Insulin dependent diabetics are particularly prone for hypoglycemia because they need to match their insulin doses with their food intake. Hence, they must constantly monitor themselves for the signs of hypoglycemia, which can rapidly occur if they take too much insulin and not enough food. "The bottom line is that if an individual ingests caffeine it causes them to have much more in the way of symptoms of hypoglycemia, when the blood sugar levels fall. This is obviously important for people with diabetes, but it's also important for other individuals," he adds.
Kerr's research is preliminary, and he admits that more studies are needed, especially regarding the long-term effects of caffeine on the brain. "I'm just concerned that people are swallowing caffeine in huge amounts on a day-to-day basis and it has definite effects in the brain, and that needs to be looked at long term."
Hypoglycemia is a condition caused by abnormally low blood glucose. Symptoms usually develop when glucose concentrations fall below 45 mg/dL of blood. Normal glucose concentrations can range from 80 to 110 mg/dL.
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