Coffee Fights Obesity-Know How?

Obesity is an excessive accumulation of fat to the extent that the health of the individual is impaired.

Coffee is the most popular drink and the most important source of caffeine. The caffeine content of coffee varies depending on the brewing method and brand.
According to the US Food and Drug Administration, 8 oz of a cup of coffee contains around 80-100 mg of caffeine.⁽¹⁾ Caffeine is added to most of the fat-burning supplements as it is one of those few substances which mobilize fat from the fat tissues and increases metabolism.

A recent study found out that drinking coffee stimulates brown fat, which is the body’s own defense which can fight obesity and diabetes.⁽²⁾

Brown fat is the good fat which helps the body turn nutrients into energy and generates heat by burning fats and sugar. Increase in its activity controls sugar as well as blood lipid levels. The extra calories burnt initiates weight loss. White or yellow fat is due to excessive storage of calories. It is associated with obesity and diabetes.

Whereas brown fat helps people stay lean and maintain healthy body weight. It metabolizes food into energy by activating uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1), which is present in the mitochondria of brown adipose tissue.

Coffee Fights Obesity-Know How?

Coffee Contains Stimulants

Many biologically active substances such as caffeine, theobromine, theophylline, and chlorogenic acid are present in coffee.

The chlorogenic acid present in coffee helps slow down the absorption of carbs.

Caffeine blocks an inhibitory neurotransmitter, adenosine.^{(3, 4)} This, in turn, increases the release of dopamine and norepinephrine. This keeps you energized and improves the exercise performance of 11-12%, on an average.⁽⁵⁾

Caffeine in the coffee increases the metabolic rate and also keeps you alert.

Coffee Helps Mobilize Fat From Fat Tissue

Caffeine stimulates the nervous system which sends a signal to fat cells to break down fat.⁽⁶⁾ It happens due to an increase in the level of epinephrine in the blood.

The fatty acids released in the blood do not help lose fat unless you burn calories which are consumed in the diet. This is known as negative energy balance.

Coffee Increases The Metabolic Rate

Metabolic rate is a rate at which you burn calories. People with high metabolic rate lose weight easily. They can eat more without gaining much. Caffeine increases the metabolic rate by 3-11%.^(7,8)

The effect of caffeine in increasing the metabolic rate is less in obese. One study showed that caffeine increased fat burning by 29% in lean people while just 10 % in obese individuals.⁽⁹⁾ The effect is also seen decreasing with age. It’s more in younger people than in the elderly.⁽¹⁰⁾

Long Term Effects Of Coffee On Weight Loss

Long term coffee drinker may become tolerant to its effect. In the short term, it can boost metabolic rate and increase fat burning and when people become tolerant its effect stops. However, it’s seen that coffee blunts appetite and makes you eat less.

If you are interested in coffee just for weight loss you can follow a cycle of two weeks on and two weeks off coffee. It is best for you to prevent the building up of tolerance. There are numerous other reasons as well to include coffee in the routine. The antioxidant activity is one of them.

So for all the coffee lovers, enjoy your cup wholeheartedly.

And for those looking out for weight loss, have you started with coffee yet!!!

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Coffee Fights Obesity-Know How?