Earlier, we reviewed on the similarities and differences between green coffee and green tea extracts. You can read more about the two green titans on a head-on comparison in terms of weight loss effects here. Now we focus on why do we choose green coffee extract over the regular coffee to help in the journey to weight control and eventually weight loss.

What Is Green Coffee Extract?

Green coffee beans are the ones that have not been roasted yet. Normally, coffee beans are roasted to produce the smoky, aromatic flavour that we all know and love. The roasting process turns the naturally green coffee beans to brown/black colour that we are accustomed to seeing in coffee shops, and lessens the chlorogenic acid (CGA) content in it. Green coffee extract is created from steeping raw, unroasted coffee in water.

How Is It Different from Regular Coffee?

Roasting coffee beans can reduce the CGA in it. Since these coffee beans are not roasted, they have higher concentration of CGA and at the same time lower concentration of caffeine as compared to other forms of coffee. This is why drinking coffee is not thought to have the same weight loss effects as the unroasted beans.

Common unwanted effects of caffeine include upset stomach, increased heart rate, frequent urination, trouble sleeping, restlessness and anxiety. With only one third of caffeine level in green coffee extract as compared to regular coffee, the occurrences of these negative effects are substantially decreased.

Since black coffee is made by brewing coffee beans, it contains predominantly water and therefore barely any calories¹. While plain black coffee contains almost no calories, common additions to coffee like milk, sugar, creamer, and other flavourings contribute further calories. Therefore, drinking regular coffee such as latte, cappuccino, mocha and flat white, to name a few of our favourites, actually contains higher calories than green coffee extract and sabotages weight loss.

What Is Chlorogenic Acid?

J.A. Vinson and colleagues at the University of Scranton (PA) discovered that consuming the chlorogenic acid–rich extracts of unroasted, green coffee beans promote weight loss and improves glucose tolerance in humans². Studies have proposed different mechanisms of actions to reveal how CGAs exert their protection activities during metabolic syndrome of dyslipidaemia, hypertension and diabetes mellitus³. Oxidative stress which is accumulated in fat has also been suggested as an early trigger of the obesity-associated metabolic syndrome³. CGA functions through the inhibition of glucose release by preventing hepatic glucose-6-phosphatase enzymatic activity and inhibition of glucose absorption in the small intestine by preventing glucose-6-phosphate translocase 1³.

How Does It Work?

Green coffee extract helps the body in conferring cardioprotective effects through lowering cholesterol, blood pressure and sugar levels, and keeps the metabolism rate in check helping with weight control. It was observed to be a suppressor of fat absorption through the regulation of adipogenesis by having effects on fat tissue breakdown hormones including leptin and adiponectin⁴. The chlorogenic acid was found to be partially involved in the suppressive effect of green coffee extract that resulted in the reduction of hepatic triglyceride level⁵.

In an 8-week study, men with metabolic syndrome — a cluster of risk factors, including high blood pressure and blood sugar, that increase your risk for diabetes and heart disease — took 400 mg of decaffeinated green coffee bean extract twice daily⁶. Those who took the extract experienced significant improvements in fasting blood sugar, blood pressure, and waist circumference, compared with a control group⁶.

Research suggests that taking green coffee extracts containing 93 mg to 185 mg of chlorogenic acids daily for 4 weeks can significantly reduce blood pressure in male volunteers with mild and untreated high blood pressure compared to placebo⁷. Systolic blood pressure (the top number) appears to be reduced by 4.7 mmHg to 5.6 mmHg⁷. Diastolic blood pressure (the bottom number) appears to be reduced by 3.2 mmHg to 3.9 mmHg⁷.

Conclusion

Regular exercise and a healthy diet are the keys for reaching and maintaining the desired weight, but supplements such as green coffee bean may increase the weight-loss potential, as well as provide additional benefits in the form of cardioprotective antioxidants. What’s more? The green coffee extract is also more cost-effective compared to buying the regular daily coffee.

References:

1. US Department of Agriculture. Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central Results: Coffee. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/344171/nutrients. Accessed on 7/9/2022
2. American Chemistry Society. https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/molecule-of-the-week/archive/c/chlorogenic-acid.html. Accessed on 5/10/2022.
3. Naveed M, Hejazi V, Abbas M, Kamboh AA, Khan GJ, Shumzaid M, Ahmad F, Babazadeh D, Xia FF, Modarresi-Ghazani F, Li WH, Zhou XH. Chlorogenic acid (CGA): A pharmacological review and call for further research. Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy Volume 97, January 2018, Pages 67-74.
4. Choi BK, Park SB, Lee DR, Lee HJ, Jin YY, Yang SH, Suh JW. Green coffee bean extract improves obesity by decreasing body fat in high-fat diet-induced obese mice. Asian Pac J Trop Med. 2016 Jul; 9(7): 635-43.
5. Shimoda H, Seki E, Aitani M. Inhibitory effect of green coffee bean extract on fat accumulation and body weight gain in mice. BMC Complement Altern Med. 2006 Mar 17; 6:9.F
6. Roshan H, Nikpayam O, Sedaghat M, Sohrab G. Effects of green coffee extract supplementation on anthropometric indices, glycaemic control, blood pressure, lipid profile, insulin resistance and appetite in patients with the metabolic syndrome: a randomised clinical trial. Br J Nutr. 2018 Feb;119(3): 250-258.
7. Kozuma K, Tsuchiya S, Kohori J, Hase T, Tokimitsu I. Antihypertensive effect of green coffee bean extract on mildly hypertensive subjects. Hypertens. Res. 2005; 28(9): 711-718.