Insights & Discussion
Decaffeinated coffee enriched with chlorogenic acid does not significantly affect blood glucose levels in healthy humans, even though it does impact animals.
A systematic literature review was carried out using relevant keywords in prominent databases like PubMed, Google Scholar, Web of Knowledge, Science Direct, Medline, Cochrane, and Scopus. From an initial pool of 1593 articles spanning 2003 to 2018, duplicates, irrelevant titles, and abstracts were eliminated, leaving 25 potentially relevant articles. Only randomized clinical trials were considered, further reducing the list to six studies for qualitative analysis.
Despite some animal studies suggesting a beneficial impact of chlorogenic acid-enriched decaffeinated coffee on blood glucose levels, the selected human studies did not indicate a significant effect among healthy individuals. While various mechanisms have been proposed to explain the lack of effect, further light was not shed on these mechanisms in this review.
Discover Related Insights
Coffee and decaffeinated coffee appear to provide long-term protection against developing type 2 diabetes, potentially due to the influence of chlorogenic acids.
2020 Food & Function Protection against developing type 2 diabetes by coffee consumption: assessment of the role of chlorogenic acid and metabolites on glycaemic responses Williamson G
Review Article Blood Sugar Chlorogenic Acid Coffee
This research observes a considerable protective effect of coffee and decaffeinated coffee over the long term against the onset of type 2 diabetes, discovered through epidemiological studies. A complex mechanism associated with chlorogenic acids is proposed, with the theory examining their potential impact on blood sugar levels. Interestingly, the effects of decaffeinated coffee on post-meal blood sugar and insulin, if consumed with carbohydrates, is minimal, although these substances might be impacting incretin hormones.
The potential effects of chlorogenic acids are examined from the perspective of not directly affecting carbohydrates digestion, but perhaps influencing glucose absorption and subsequent utilisation. Different factors, such as metabolites derived from endogenous pathways or the influence of the gut microbiota, are considered. The study proposes a need for chronic intervention studies on decaffeinated coffee, in sync with more focused in vitro studies using realistic concentrations of relevant chlorogenic acid metabolites, to further understand this protective property of coffee.