diff --git a/config/environments/development.js.example b/config/environments/development.js.example
index ed0aaf58..1e59ebf3 100644
--- a/config/environments/development.js.example
+++ b/config/environments/development.js.example
@@ -326,6 +326,7 @@ var config = {
         purge_enabled: false, // whether the purge/invalidation mechanism is enabled in varnish or not
         secret: 'xxx',
         ttl: 86400,
+        fallbackTtl: 300,
         layergroupTtl: 86400 // the max-age for cache-control header in layergroup responses
     }
     // this [OPTIONAL] configuration enables invalidating by surrogate key in fastly
diff --git a/config/environments/production.js.example b/config/environments/production.js.example
index bc34db81..42aecabd 100644
--- a/config/environments/production.js.example
+++ b/config/environments/production.js.example
@@ -326,6 +326,7 @@ var config = {
         purge_enabled: false, // whether the purge/invalidation mechanism is enabled in varnish or not
         secret: 'xxx',
         ttl: 86400,
+        fallbackTtl: 300,
         layergroupTtl: 86400 // the max-age for cache-control header in layergroup responses
     }
     // this [OPTIONAL] configuration enables invalidating by surrogate key in fastly
diff --git a/config/environments/staging.js.example b/config/environments/staging.js.example
index 41f8e281..5083ec11 100644
--- a/config/environments/staging.js.example
+++ b/config/environments/staging.js.example
@@ -326,6 +326,7 @@ var config = {
         purge_enabled: false, // whether the purge/invalidation mechanism is enabled in varnish or not
         secret: 'xxx',
         ttl: 86400,
+        fallbackTtl: 300,
         layergroupTtl: 86400 // the max-age for cache-control header in layergroup responses
     }
     // this [OPTIONAL] configuration enables invalidating by surrogate key in fastly
diff --git a/config/environments/test.js.example b/config/environments/test.js.example
index 05c5e94c..34edb917 100644
--- a/config/environments/test.js.example
+++ b/config/environments/test.js.example
@@ -328,6 +328,7 @@ var config = {
         purge_enabled: false, // whether the purge/invalidation mechanism is enabled in varnish or not
         secret: 'xxx',
         ttl: 86400,
+        fallbackTtl: 300,
         layergroupTtl: 86400 // the max-age for cache-control header in layergroup responses
     }
     // this [OPTIONAL] configuration enables invalidating by surrogate key in fastly
diff --git a/lib/cartodb/api/middlewares/cache-control-header.js b/lib/cartodb/api/middlewares/cache-control-header.js
index d72ee0c3..38d05baf 100644
--- a/lib/cartodb/api/middlewares/cache-control-header.js
+++ b/lib/cartodb/api/middlewares/cache-control-header.js
@@ -1,21 +1,42 @@
 'use strict';
 
 const ONE_YEAR_IN_SECONDS = 60 * 60 * 24 * 365;
+const FIVE_MINUTES_IN_SECONDS = 60 * 5;
+const FALLBACK_TTL = global.environment.varnish.fallbackTtl || FIVE_MINUTES_IN_SECONDS
 
-module.exports = function setCacheControlHeader ({ ttl = ONE_YEAR_IN_SECONDS, revalidate = false } = {}) {
+module.exports = function setCacheControlHeader ({
+    ttl = ONE_YEAR_IN_SECONDS,
+    fallbackTtl = FALLBACK_TTL,
+    revalidate = false
+} = {}) {
     return function setCacheControlHeaderMiddleware (req, res, next) {
         if (req.method !== 'GET') {
             return next();
         }
 
-        const directives = [ 'public', `max-age=${ttl}` ];
+        const { mapConfigProvider = { getAffectedTables: callback => callback() } } = res.locals;
 
-        if (revalidate) {
-            directives.push('must-revalidate');
-        }
+        mapConfigProvider.getAffectedTables((err, affectedTables) => {
+            if (err) {
+                global.logger.warn('ERROR generating Cache Control Header:', err);
+                return next();
+            }
 
-        res.set('Cache-Control', directives.join(','));
+            const directives = [ 'public' ]
 
-        next();
+            if (affectedTables && !affectedTables.getTables().some(table => !!table.updated_at)) {
+                directives.push(`max-age=${fallbackTtl}`);
+            } else {
+                directives.push(`max-age=${ttl}`);
+            }
+
+            if (revalidate) {
+                directives.push('must-revalidate');
+            }
+
+            res.set('Cache-Control', directives.join(','));
+
+            next();
+        });
     };
 };