Does Coffee Help With Weight Loss?

Check out this answer from Consensus:

The collective evidence suggests that coffee consumption can aid in weight loss and body fat reduction, particularly when combined with dietary recommendations. The bioactive compounds in coffee, such as caffeine and mannooligosaccharides, play a significant role in these effects. However, the impact may vary between genders, with men potentially experiencing more pronounced benefits. Further research is needed to fully understand the mechanisms and to explore the gender differences in response to coffee consumption for weight management.

The potential role of coffee in weight loss has been a subject of interest due to its widespread consumption and the presence of bioactive compounds such as caffeine and chlorogenic acids. This synthesis aims to consolidate findings from various studies to determine whether coffee consumption can aid in weight loss.

Key Insights

• Reduction in Body Weight and Adiposity:
  • Coffee consumption has been associated with a significant reduction in BMI and body fat percentage in adolescents when combined with dietary recommendations1.
  • Meta-analysis suggests that higher coffee intake might be modestly associated with reduced adiposity, particularly in men2.
  • Coffee consumption over a four-week period was linked to a decrease in body fat3.
• Impact of Coffee-Derived Compounds:
  • Mannooligosaccharides (MOS) from coffee have been shown to decrease body fat and improve body composition, particularly in men4 9.
• Weight Loss Maintenance:
  • Higher caffeine intake is related to successful weight loss maintenance, with weight loss maintainers consuming more coffee and caffeinated beverages compared to the general population5.
• Mechanisms of Action:
  • Coffee enhances thermogenesis, which may contribute to a negative energy balance and support weight loss8.
  • Bioactive compounds in coffee, such as chlorogenic acids, have been shown to influence lipid metabolism and reduce lipid accumulation10.
• Gender Differences:
  • Some studies indicate that the weight loss effects of coffee and its components, such as MOS, are more pronounced in men than in women4 9.

 

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Does coffee help with weight loss?

Neil Schwarz has answered Unlikely

An expert from University of South Alabama in Sports Science, Exercise Physiology, Kinesiology

Coffee likely has a minimal effect on weight loss by itself. The caffeine in coffee may increase metabolism, but it is unlikely to be enough to stimulate meaningful weight loss. Additionally, once any creamer or sugar is added to coffee, the additional calories offset any increase in metabolism. Black coffee may help slightly increase metabolism and decrease appetite. These are both helpful for inducing a caloric deficit for weight loss, but, overall, it is the balance in energy output versus input that will determine weight loss.

 

Does coffee help with weight loss?

Neil Clarke has answered Likely

An expert from Covenant University in Nutrition

Coffee, green tea and other caffeinated drinks are a popular way to start the morning. Not only does it give many people a much-needed boost, but caffeine can also help when it comes to fitness. Studies show it can help people exercise harder and for longer, and even perform better. And recently, a study conducted at the University of Granada reported that consuming caffeine half an hour before aerobic exercise can actually help people burn fat.

In the study, 15 men (aged around 32) ingested caffeine powder (about 3mg per kilogram of body mass – the equivalent of a tall brewed filter coffee) or a placebo 30 minutes before exercising. The participants then completed a total of four trials. They alternated between exercising at either 8am or 5pm on separate days. The study used a “triple-blind” experimental design – meaning that the participants, researchers and statistician did not know who had consumed caffeine or not during each trial.

To ensure the participants were exposed to the same conditions as each other, the researchers made sure it had been at least three hours since their last meal before the caffeine or placebo was ingested. No exercise had been performed for 24 hours before the trial. Each participant consumed the same diet the day of each trial.

During the trials, the participants cycled at increasingly higher intensities to determine peak fat oxidation (the process of breaking down fat to produce energy – “fat burning”). The researchers found that compared with the placebo group, consuming caffeine led to more fat being burned during exercise.

Fat burning after caffeine was up to 11% more in the morning, and 29% more in the afternoon. The greater fat burning in the afternoon could be explained by the higher concentration of adrenaline in our bodies which happens as a response to afternoon exercise. But before you get too excited, even with the higher afternoon rate of 0.4 grams of fat burned per minute, in order to lose 1kg of body fat, one would have to exercise for nearly 42 hours.

The study’s findings confirm what other research has previously shown. A recent meta-analysis of 19 studies concluded that a pre-exercise intake of caffeine may increase fat burning during aerobic exercise, especially after a fasting period of at least five hours. Research has also shown caffeine increased fat oxidation from 19g an hour with the placebo group, to 25g with caffeine while cycling at maximum fat burning capacity. These results are comparable to the amount of fat burned in the afternoon in the new study.

Caffeine and fat burning

Burning more fat after ingesting caffeine may be explained by the interaction between caffeine and our body’s fatty acids. Fatty acids are the building blocks of fat and can supply the body with energy.

Caffeine promotes lipolysis (the process by which fats are broken down), due to a greater release of adrenaline. Lipolysis then causes fatty acids to be produced as a result. These fatty acids are then released into the blood and transported to muscle to be used as energy.

Caffeine’s fat-burning abilities are also related to increased energy expenditure. The compound adenosine under normal conditions, promotes sleep and suppresses arousal. However, caffeine and adenosine compete for the same receptors in the brain. So when caffeine is available, adenosine is less able to bind, causing greater stimulation of the central nervous system. During exercise this means more muscle fibres are being used during movement.

In addition, people feel exercise requires less effort after consuming caffeine. Having caffeine before exercise has also been shown to make exercise more enjoyable. These factors combined may subsequently make us work harder while exercising – which in turn may cause us to burn more fat during exercise.

Numerous studies have shown ingesting caffeine improves exercise performance, including endurance performance, short-term high-intensity performance and resistance exercise performance. Sports that require greater concentration and skill – such as team sports, tennis and golf – also benefit from caffeine ingestion.

But it’s important to note that the effects in this most recent study may have been increased due to this exercise being performed in a fasted state. When exercising without eating before, fat oxidation is naturally higher. Furthermore, the authors acknowledge that the present study used only a small cohort, and was only performed in active men who typically consumed only a small amount of caffeine. This study will need to be tested on a wider cohort that includes women, people who are less active, and those who regularly consume caffeine to see whether caffeine had a similar fat-burning effect.

However, studies have reported that men and women respond similarly to caffeine, and that the amount of caffeine people regularly consume doesn’t affect the performance benefits of caffeine.

The placebo effect – in which people expected to feel the effects of the caffeine – may also have affected the study’s results. For example, one study showed the placebo effect had similar outcomes for fat oxidation during exercise as actually receiving caffeine.

The increase in fat burning after consuming caffeine shown in this study may be relatively small. However, over time it could be important for weight maintenance or weight loss. But it’s important to state that weight loss will only occur when there is a negative energy balance. A negative energy balance means that you burn more calories than you take in.

I have adapted this answer from my original article in The Conversation 

 

Does coffee help with weight loss?

Andrew Carey has answered Unlikely

An expert from Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute in Obesity, Cell Biology

In 2019 researchers from the University of Nottingham in the UK recently published a study in the journal Scientific Reports suggesting caffeine increases brown fat.

This caught people’s attention because brown fat activity burns energy, which may help with weight loss. Headlines claimed drinking coffee can help you lose weight, and that coffee is possibly even the “secret to fighting obesity”.

Unfortunately, it’s a little more complicated than that. The researchers did find caffeine stimulated brown fat, but this was mainly in cells in a lab.

For a human to reap the benefits seen in the cells, we estimate they’d need to drink at least 100 cups of coffee.

Although part of this research did look at people, the methods used don’t support coffee or caffeine as weight-loss options.

What is brown fat?

Brown adipose (fat) tissue is found deep within the torso and neck. It contains fat cell types which differ from the “white” fat we find around our waistlines.

Brown fat cells adapt to our environment by increasing or decreasing the amount of energy they can burn when “activated”, to produce heat to warm us up.

When people are cold for days or weeks, their brown fat gets better at burning energy.

We understand caffeine may be able to indirectly accentuate and prolong some of these processes, mimicking the effects of cold exposure in stimulating brown fat.

Brown fat – and anything thought to increase its activity – has generated significant research interest, in the hope it might assist in the treatment of obesity.

What did the researchers do in this latest study?

The research team first conducted experiments where cells taken from mice were grown into fat cells in petri dishes. They added caffeine to some samples, but not others, to see whether the caffeinated cells acquired more brown fat attributes (we call this “browning”).

The dose of caffeine (one millimolar) was determined based on what would be the highest concentration that browned the cells but didn’t kill them.

The fat cell culture experiment showed adding caffeine did “brown” the cells.

The researchers then recruited a group of nine people who drank a cup of instant coffee, or water as a control.

Before and after the participants drank coffee, the researchers measured their brown fat activity by assessing the temperature of the skin near the neck, under which a major region of brown fat is known to lie.

Skin temperature increased over the shoulder area after drinking coffee, whereas it didn’t after drinking only water.

How should we interpret the results?

Some people will criticise the low number of human participants (nine). We shouldn’t make broad recommendations on human behaviour or medicine based on small studies like this, but we can use them to identify new and interesting aspects of how our bodies work – and that’s what these researchers sought to do.

But whether the increased skin temperature after drinking coffee is significant cannot be determined for a few important reasons.

Firstly, although the study showed an increase in skin temperature after drinking coffee, the statistical analysis for the human experiment doesn’t include enough data to accurately compare the coffee and water groups, which prevents meaningful conclusions. That is, it doesn’t use appropriate methods we apply in science to decide if something really changed or only happened by chance.

Second, measuring skin temperature is not necessarily the most accurate indicator for brown fat in this context. Skin temperature has been validated as a way to measure brown fat after cold exposure, but not after taking drugs which mimic the effects of cold exposure – which caffeine is in the context of this study.

Myself and other researchers have shown the effects of these “mimic” drugs result in diverse effects including increased blood flow to the skin. Where we don’t know if changes in the skin temperature are due to brown fat or unrelated factors, relying on this measure may be problematic.

Although also suffering its own limitations, PET (poistron emission tomography) imaging is currently our best option for directly measuring active brown fat.

It’s the dose that matters most

The instant coffee used in the study contained 65mg of caffeine, which is standard for a regular cup of instant coffee. Brewed coffees vary and might be double this.

Regardless, it’s difficult to imagine this dose could increase brown fat energy burning when studies using large doses of more potent “cold-mimicking” drugs (such as ephedrine) cause no, or at best modest, increases in brown fat activity.

But let’s look at the caffeine dose used in the cell experiments. The one millimolar concentration of caffeine is a 20-fold larger dose than 300-600mg of caffeine dose used by elite athletes as a performance-boosting strategy. And this dose is five to ten times higher than the amount of caffeine you’d get from drinking an instant coffee.

Rough calculations therefore suggest we’d need to drink 100 or 200 cups of coffee to engage the “browning” effects of caffeine.

So people should continue to drink and enjoy their coffee. But current evidence suggests we shouldn’t start thinking about it as a weight loss tool, nor that it has anything meaningful to do with brown fat in humans.

I have adapted this answer from my original article in The Conversation