Your questions about coffee and health
Nutrition Diva
Macmillan Holdings, LLC
4.4 • 1.8K Ratings
🗓️ 21 January 2026
⏱️ 11 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
848. An episode we did earlier this month about coffee prompted questions from many listeners. Does coffee spike your cortisol? How does it affect the bladder? Is espresso healthier than drip? Answers to your questions here.
Related episodes:
846 - Fact check: Is it bad to drink coffee on an empty stomach?
Find a transcript here.
New to Nutrition Diva? Check out our special Spotify playlist for a collection of the best episodes curated by our team and Monica herself!
We've also curated some great playlists on specific episode topics including Staying Strong as We Age, Diabetes, Weight Loss That Lasts and Gut Health! Also, find a playlist of our bone health series, Stronger Bones at Every Age.
Have a nutrition question? Send an email to nutrition@quickanddirtytips.com.
Follow Nutrition Diva on Facebook and subscribe to the newsletter for more diet and nutrition tips.
Find out about Monica's keynotes and other programs at WellnessWorksHere.com
Nutrition Diva is a part of the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Clearly, Nutrition diva listeners enjoy their Java because I got an unusual number of emails from listeners in response to my recent episode about drinking coffee on an empty stomach, including many great questions about coffee, cortisol, caffeine, and more. |
| 0:18.3 | So grab your cup and sidle up for the answers. |
| 0:25.9 | Hello and welcome to the Nutrition Diva podcast, a show where we take a closer look at |
| 0:32.9 | nutrition headlines, research, and trends, and answer your food and nutrition questions. I'm your host, |
| 0:39.3 | Monica Reinagle, and as I said, I heard from a lot of you in response to my recent episode |
| 0:45.1 | on whether or not it's okay to drink coffee on an empty stomach. And you all sent in some |
| 0:52.2 | really good questions, and I wanted to share the answers with all of you. |
| 0:58.0 | Abby wrote in to say, |
| 0:59.2 | My colleagues are afraid to drink coffee before breakfast because they've read that caffeine raises cortisol, which will impact blood sugar, and without food, there's nothing to stabilize blood sugar. |
| 1:13.3 | What would you say to that? Well, Abby, I would say that your colleagues seem to be mashing |
| 1:20.4 | together a few real phenomena in a way that doesn't really make any sense. So let's see if we |
| 1:26.8 | can help them and you sort this all out. |
| 1:30.0 | First, it is true that caffeine can cause an increase in cortisol secretion, but the effect is |
| 1:36.5 | pretty modest and even more so if you are a regular coffee drinker. However, even if you're not |
| 1:43.9 | a regular coffee drinker, morning is the time |
| 1:46.7 | of day that your cortisol levels are already likely to be at their highest. And this is just |
| 1:52.6 | part of the normal circadian rhythm. Cortisol plays a specific role in maintaining your blood sugar |
| 1:59.7 | during long periods without food, |
| 2:02.3 | and that's usually the case overnight. |
| 2:05.1 | And that's probably why cortisol levels tend to be at their peak in the morning. |
| 2:10.0 | And it's also why any small bump that you might get from a cup of coffee is not going to have much impact. |
| 2:19.9 | Now, the relationship between caffeine and blood sugar is a bit more complex. Caffeine does tend to temporarily blunt your insulin sensitivity, |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Macmillan Holdings, LLC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Macmillan Holdings, LLC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.