Free
Fasting
Calc

Drinks · ~2 kcal per cup (240 ml)

Does black coffee break a fast?

No. Black coffee has about 2 kcal a cup and no sugar, so it keeps a fast for weight loss, blood sugar and autophagy. Gut rest is a grey area.

Full answer: Does Coffee Break a Fast? Black Coffee and Every Add-In

The answer for each goal

Weight loss

Safe

Autophagy

Safe

Gut rest

Grey area

Blood sugar

Safe

A 240 ml (8 fl oz) cup of brewed black coffee has about 2 kcal, with no sugar and no protein. A 30 ml espresso shot has about 3 kcal, and instant coffee made with water has about 2 kcal per 100 ml. Americano, filter coffee, cold brew and pods all count as black coffee when nothing goes in the cup.

This site sorts each answer by four goals of its own: weight loss, blood sugar, autophagy and gut rest. Black coffee is safe for the first three. The autophagy verdict rests on mice, where regular and decaf coffee raised autophagy within 1 to 4 hours. No human study has tested it. Gut rest is grey, because coffee raises stomach acid and gets the bowel moving.

Caffeine sets the limit on how many cups you drink. Healthy adults can have up to 400 mg a day, and a cup of brewed coffee has about 95 mg. In pregnancy or while breastfeeding the limit is 200 mg a day. If you take levothyroxine, take it as prescribed, 30 to 60 minutes before any coffee.

Watch out

Milk, cream, sugar, syrup and butter each change the answer. Every add-in has its own entry in this database, so check it before you pour.

Questions people ask

Does black coffee break a fast for autophagy?

The database marks it safe, because a cup has about 2 kcal and no protein. In mice, coffee raised autophagy within 1 to 4 hours. No human study has tested this either way.

Does coffee break a 16 hour fast?

Black coffee does not. A cup adds about 2 kcal at hour 2 or hour 16 alike. Talk to a doctor before any fast longer than 24 hours, with or without coffee.

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