Is there are relationship between coffee and weight loss? According to the Mayo Clinic, the caffeine in coffee
may slightly boost weight loss or prevent weight gain, but there’s no sound evidence that increased caffeine consumption results in significant or permanent weight loss.
They go on to say this in regard to coffee and weight loss, appetite and metabolism:
Appetite suppression: Caffeine may reduce your desire to eat for a brief time, but there’s not enough evidence to show that long-term consumption aids weight loss.
Calorie burning: Caffeine may stimulate thermogenesis — one way your body generates heat and energy from digesting food. But this probably isn’t enough to produce significant weight loss.
Green Coffee Bean Extract
On the other hand there are folks selling coffee bean extract and promoting it as a weight loss tool. One study regarding coffee and weight loss demonstrated short term weight loss with coffee bean extract.
Some commentators have remarked that it is probably the caffeine that helps one lose weight with coffee bean extract. However, the study author believes that a chemical called chlorogenic acid in unroasted beans is what does the trick. A next logical step would be to take another group of overweight volunteers and give half of them caffeine pills and the other half coffee bean extract with the same amount of caffeine and compare the results.
This author would rather be in a test group that drank healthy organic coffee with the same amount of caffeine. What concerns objective observers likes the doctors at the Mayo Clinic is that there is no evidence of a long term relationship between coffee and weight loss. This is similar to what was seen decades ago when doctors routinely prescribed amphetamines and thyroid extract for weight loss. Both methods increased metabolism in the short term and neither resulted in weight loss without sustained, lifetime use. In each case the bad side effects of long term stimulation with amphetamines or excessive amount of thyroid hormone outweighed the moderate loss of weight caused by these substances. At least with a good cup of organic coffee you get to enjoy the coffee and its other health benefits without worrying about side effects.
Other Good Things from Coffee
While the question of coffee and weight loss is not yet resolved there are lots of good reasons to drink coffee, especially healthy organic coffee. Coffee drinkers experience half the incidence of Type II Diabetes and lower rates of cancers of the colon, prostate, and liver. Drinking coffee reduces the frequency of depression and the risk of suicide. The antioxidants in coffee appear to be responsible for lower rates of both Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. And we have even found recently that coffee can lower the mortality from liver cirrhosis that was caused by drinking alcohol. And if you choose to drink organic coffee you can exclude all of those pesticide and herbicide residues that can occur in regular coffee. And, if you want to try caffeine or the antioxidants in coffee for weight loss, healthy organic coffee is a tasty and healthy option.