Does drinking coffee really help you lose weight?

Losing weight seems to be a topic that people are always passionate about. Various weight loss methods are always emerging, from the already popular light meals to the popular meal replacements on the Internet, and now the black coffee weight loss method is also the choice of many people who want to lose weight. Can black coffee really help you lose weight?

First of all, we have to say that coffee still has some health value. Coffee is rich in caffeine and polyphenol antioxidants, which have many health benefits, including reducing inflammation and free radical damage.

When it comes to weight loss, coffee appears to have two potential benefits - boosting metabolism and reducing appetite.

Coffee May Increase Metabolism

Increasing metabolism is mainly due to the caffeine in coffee. Many studies have confirmed that caffeine can increase human metabolism, allowing the body to consume more energy in the same amount of time. Therefore, low-caffeine or decaffeinated coffee is less effective in this regard.

In a survey of more than 600 people, researchers found that higher caffeine intake was associated with a decrease in weight, body mass index (BMI), and fat mass. And when participants doubled their caffeine intake, their weight, BMI, and fat mass dropped by 17-28%.

In another study, 12 adults took either a supplement containing caffeine and polyphenols (two main active ingredients in coffee) or a placebo. The supplement caused the participants to burn more fat and calories than the placebo.

Coffee may also make exercise burn more fat. One study looked at the effects of drinking about 1 cup (250 ml) of water or caffeinated coffee after seven healthy men exercised for 30 minutes. Those who drank coffee burned more fat than those who drank water.

Some studies believe that coffee has this effect because it stimulates brown fat to burn calories. Brown fat is different from ordinary fat in the body. Increasing its activity can improve blood sugar control and blood lipid levels, and burning excess calories can help lose weight. A British study found that after drinking coffee, the brown fat in the neck of the human body increased.

However, these studies are still not enough to show that coffee has a definite weight loss effect.

Coffee may reduce your appetite. Some studies have shown that drinking coffee before a meal can reduce your appetite. However, if you drink coffee too long before a meal, such as three or four hours before a meal, your appetite at the next meal will not be affected.

A study of 33 overweight or normal-weight people found that drinking coffee can reduce calorie intake in overweight people. During the 3 phases of the study, everyone was given breakfast and water, regular coffee, or half-caffeinated coffee. When the overweight people drank 6 ounces (200 ml) of coffee, they consumed significantly fewer calories than when they drank water or coffee with half caffeine.

However, coffee has not been shown to have such a beneficial effect in some studies. One study of 12 people found no difference in calorie intake or appetite when people drank caffeinated coffee, decaffeinated coffee, or a placebo drink before a meal.

So, more research is needed to determine whether coffee can help reduce calorie intake.

Is “slimming coffee” effective and safe?

Some weight loss coffees sold online are just pure black coffee: usually instant black coffee, the sellers just add some publicity for themselves. Some add some things that may help with weight loss, such as "L-carnitine" which is a very common one. In fact, like caffeine, there is no completely certain result on whether L-carnitine can really help with weight loss, but if taken in excess, there will be fever, sweating, thirst, dizziness, insomnia and other reactions. So when buying "weight loss coffee", pay attention to whether the coffee is pure black coffee or has other things added. If other ingredients are added, pay attention to whether the manufacturer is formal and whether it has a formal batch number.

How can we drink coffee more healthily in our daily life?

In fact, there have been many studies on the health effects of coffee in the past 20 years, and its effect on weight control is only a small part. The research results on the health benefits of coffee include that coffee can reduce the incidence of cardiovascular disease, prevent colorectal cancer, and prevent breast cancer. However, there are also studies that say that caffeine is not good for health, and that it is not good for heart health and can cause cancer! In fact, whether coffee is good or not is mainly a question of quantity. As long as the amount is appropriate, it is good for health. Drinking too much may be harmful to health.

So how much caffeine is good for health? For healthy adults, it is safe to consume no more than 400 mg of caffeine per day. For pregnant women, the daily caffeine intake should not exceed 200 mg. You may not have an idea of ​​how much caffeine coffee contains. Take Starbucks coffee as an example. A Starbucks large cup (473 ml) of coffee contains 225 mg of caffeine. A medium cup of Americano (355 ml) contains 150 mg of caffeine.

Another thing to note is that when we discuss the health benefits of coffee, we are talking about black coffee, which refers to coffee without sugar or cream. After all, after adding milk products and sugar, coffee or milk tea not only has a high calorie count, which can only make you fat, but also easily causes oily skin and acne.