Green Coffee

With Christmas out of the way, it is now that time of the year when post-binging diets and detoxes start appearing. Everyone seems to feel a little guilty for enjoying a few mince pies and maybe even a beer or two. That leaves a huge opportunity for companies to bring a whole range of products to market that promise to satisfy everybody’s weight loss goals.

One supplement for weight loss that is gaining particularly high popularity is green coffee, and seeing how popular green tea has become, it is absolutely no surprise.

A lot of people might think that coffee beans are dark brown but this is just the colour they go after being roasted – prior to this coffee beans are actually green. So at least we are talking about a natural substance here and not some man-made chemical that has been sculpted in a laboratory.

That being said, we already know that our regular coffee contains antioxidants that can help contribute to a healthy lifestyle. Is there really a need to start tampering with it all? One chemical present in coffee beans is chlorogenic acid. However after a coffee bean is roasted this chlorogenic acid is partially destroyed and therefore its concentration is reduced.

Caffeine is another substance that has been identified in coffee to offer some health benefits. Fortunately whether a coffee bean is roasted to give a dark colour and rich flavour, or if it is left in its natural green state, the caffeine levels remain almost exactly the same.

So it is the chlorogenic acid that is being identified as a particular contributor to effective weight loss. Similarly to caffeine, it is thought to help speed up our metabolism, making losing weight, and keeping it off, easier.

Unfortunately weight loss supplements are hardly ever as effective as their advertising would suggest and there is almost a hidden catch. That doesn’t mean that every new product should be automatically branded as a con though. In fact some testing has shown green coffee to reduce the absorption of carbohydrates and therefore prevent insulin spikes. Not to mention the fact it has improved the function of the adiponectin hormone, which is closely related to fat burning.

The problem is a lot of the tests that have shown these good results have been conducted on mice and rats. What’s more is that human trials have been relatively small in comparison and results haven’t appeared as definitive. That doesn’t mean they have been a complete disaster though and some of the results are thought to have indicated some aspects of increased weight loss.

Green coffee had its moment of fame when Dr Oz endorsed it on his TV show in the United States. In true American fashion he branded it as some sort of miracle worker that could increase weight loss without you making a single change to your diet or exercise regime. Since then more and more companies have been using green coffee beans to produce both concentrated supplement extracts and an instant coffee blend for drinking.

And it isn’t just weight loss that green coffee is being linked to. It is thought to improve heart health by reducing blood pressure and helping to control pur blodd sugar.

Okay, evidence really is limited on the supposed effects of green coffee. But like I say, this isn’t some pill we don’t know anything about – it is coffee! We have been drinking it for centuries and we know an awful lot about how it effects us. All we are doing is eliminating the roasting aspect to try and access another substance.

I’m not saying this is going to cause miracles – of course it won’t! But if you are curious then just remember it is coffee, you probably drink it every day. Green coffee supplements and instant blends can be bought easily off the internet from anywhere in the world. Don’t be afraid to try it out if you want something that is a little bit different. Just remember your hard work is what will bring results – not supplementation.