Years of research have demonstrated that drinking coffee leads to long term health benefits. More recently green coffee has been touted as not only an aid to losing weight but also a means of controlling blood pressure, avoiding heart disease and even helping avoid the effects of aging. Is green coffee really good for your health? What are recent assertions regarding green coffee health benefits based on?

Coffee Health Benefits and Antioxidants

Proof of the health benefits of coffee does not come from studies of coffee but rather long term studies of large populations that include whether or not folks drank coffee and information about the incidence of various diseases. These studies show that coffee drinkers are less likely to develop Type II diabetes, various types of cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and heart disease. Subsequent studies have indicated that the reason for coffee health benefits is the high level of antioxidants in coffee.

The roasted coffee that we use to brew our morning cup of Java comes from green coffee beans which contain higher levels of the antioxidant chlorogenic acid than roasted coffee. This is because much of the chlorogenic acid is reduced as it is converted to quinic acid and caffeic acid during the process of roasting. The assumption is that since green coffee has even higher levels of antioxidants like chlorogenic acid that roasted coffee does and antioxidants like chlorogenic acid are believed to be the reason for coffee’s health benefits that green coffee has equal to greater health benefits than roasted coffee. On the other hand, there are no long term studies where folks were asked about consuming green coffee and their health status kept track of such as is the case with regular, roasted coffee.

Green Coffee and Weight Loss

Green coffee is currently being marketed as a way to lose weight. It is unclear where this idea came from as there are no studies showing green coffee to be useful in this regard. The rationale commonly given for using green coffee to lose weight is that

Chlorogenic acids possibly inhibit an enzyme called alpha-glucosidase in the digestive tract. This enzyme breaks down carbohydrates. The assumption is that such inhibition will lead to lower levels of blood sugar which in turn will lead to fewer insulin spikes which in turn will lead to fewer craving for sugars and starches in a rebound effect. While this may be plausible, there is not clear proof that green coffee consumption leads to weight loss over time.

Is Green Coffee Good or Bad for You?

Despite our reservations about green coffee as a weight loss treatment it is certainly likely that green coffee has similarly beneficial effects on health to what is seen with regular coffee from roasted beans. The drawbacks in terms of too much caffeine, high blood pressure, stomach acidity are pretty much the same as regular coffee which can be dealt with using common sense and moderation.

Testimonials Versus Scientific Proof in Advertising Green Coffee

The old Roman saying, let the buyer beware, applies to advertising for things like green coffee for losing weight. Do not mistake a plausible argument along with a personal testimonial about how much someone felt better after using a product as the sort of proof offered by unbiased scientific studies. We know that drinking coffee reduces the risk of type II diabetes, cancers, heart disease, etc. because the folks who did the research were looking for truth and not trying to sell you something.