If you have been living under a rock, you might have missed the hype about green coffee bean extract being the best thing for weight loss since the elimination of sliced bread. It is mentioned in that context on nearly every diet-related blog there is. I have seen it prominently featured on several blogs that I follow. Even one of Jimmy Moore’s advertisers is peddling the the stuff. So, I decided to check into it.
Since this is a very hot topic, it’s pretty easy to find places to buy green coffee extract, including Amazon. I was able to quickly find two places (shown on either side of this paragraph) that are running specials on green coffee extract.
So what is this all about, anyway?
Turns out there was a study done by Dr. Joe Vinson of the University of Scranton, in March of this year (2012), that found a significant correlation between consumption of green coffee and weight loss.
Ok, so we are studying caffeine, right? Actually, no. The amount of caffeine in a dose of green coffee extract used in the study is less than a quarter of the amount found in a regular cup of coffee. The effective ingredient appears to be chlorogenic acid, a phenol found in several plants, but especially abundant in coffee — at least, before it is roasted, which reduces the amount.
Appearance of un-roasted coffee (photo credit: WikiPedia)
The study’s strength is that it was randomized, double-blind, and placebo-controlled, which is considered the gold standard for research of this type. The weaknesses are that it was a small study, and so far, there has been only one follow-up study (on the bio-availability of chlorogenic acid in decaf green coffee). I would like to see more follow-up studies, but at least green coffee appears to be safe.
So, does green coffee extract help you lose weight? The best way I can think of is to try it and see if it helps you! If you have already tried green coffee extract, please enter a comment below to tell us about your experience!
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