Why Does Coffee Make You Fat?

Past research has shown that two cups of coffee per day can assist in weight loss. Now new research shows that the opposite effect can happen when more than five cups of coffee per day are taken.

Australian researchers have discovered that ingesting too many specific types of polyphenols - found in coffee and called chlorogenic acid (CGA) - may stop fat loss and also cause insulin resistance. CGA is found even in decaffeinated coffee. CGA affects the way the liver metabolises fat, resulting in abnormal fat retention in cells.

The propensity of large amounts of CGA to cause insulin resistance means that more than five cups of coffee per day could be a real risk in developing type II diabetes.

Having only two cups of coffee per day (only a small amount of CGA) has been found by scientists to have the following positive health effects:

• reduces heart cardiovascular disease
• reduces risk of diabetes
• reduces cirrhosis of the liver
• reduced risk of oral, esophageal and pharyngeal cancers
• can prevent constipation
• can reduce dental plaque formation improving dental health
• decreases risk of gout in men over 40
• increases levels of antioxidants increasing cell health
• increases the gastrointestinal uptake of some painkillers
• can increase cognitive performance
• can reduce risk of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease
• can reduce risk of dementia

Starbucks Frappuccino coffee drink contains 500 calories! This is only slight less calorific than a small pizza. People try to lose weight and watch what they eat but seem to be blind when it comes to liquid calories. While the average hardcore short black may not contain large amounts of calories, the caffeine is a stimulant which increases stress levels which in turn stimulates appetite. Whether you slather your coffee in whipped cream and ice-cream, or take it with milk only, or even take it black, it can make you gain weight if you are not careful.

CGA is in tea and also in some fruit including plums and berries. However, scientists are not concerned about the amount of CGA in fruits. Apparently it would be physically impossible to eat enough fruit to ingest a dangerous level of CGA!

Caffeine is an active ingredient in many supplements used by body builders and even in many multivitamins. Caffeine is a common ingredient in that group of products called thermogenics. Thermogenics act to increase metabolic rate. If CGA is present in these products in significant amounts, then the people taking them could possibly be at risk if they take them long-term.

Coffee, like alcohol, seems to be only beneficial in small doses. Too much coffee, like too much alcohol, can lead to a world of trouble. While you may not get arrested for being drunk and disorderly from too much coffee, you might end up becoming obese and/or diabetic in the long term. But if you drink coffee moderately, you can significantly improve your health.

• Does Coffee Make You Fat?, Woman's Day, 16 June 2008: http://womansday.ninemsn.com.au/health/diet/994174/does-coffee-make-you-fat
• Is your caffeine fix making you fat? Study shows five cups a day could cause obesity, Mail Online, 29 May 2013: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2332044/Is-caffeine-fix-making-fat-Study-shows-cups-coffee-day-cause-obesity.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
• Wakes you up, keeps you going! But can coffee make you fat?, Gen Kennedy, The Chronicle, 29 May 2013: http://www.thechronicle.com.au/news/it-wakes-you-up-and-keeps-you-going-but-scientists/1885345/
• Wikipedia
• 6 of Your Favorite Things That Make You Fat, Cracked,Malcolm Christiansen, 22 October 2008 http://www.cracked.com/article_16708_6-your-favorite-things-that-are-secretly-making-you-fat.html