What’s This about Coffee Saving Us from Obesity?

Headlines lately have been suggesting the possibility of coffee saving us from obesity. Here’s a sampling:

• Coffee May Help Combat Obesity
• New Research Touts Benefits of Coffee in Combating Diabetes, Obesity
• Coffee Chemical Could Offset Diseases Related to Obesity
• Coffee May Help You Shed Weight!
• Drinking Coffee May Soon Become the Quickest Way to Lose Weight

 
With a Starbucks on every corner, it’s a wonder there’s any obesity left to worry about. Perhaps replacing apple juice with coffee really would stunt our children’s growth and put an end to childhood obesity.

In case you hadn’t guessed, these headlines are a little detached from the science that sparked them. The source for all this hubbub was a pair of mouse studies of a chemical extracted from coffee — chlorogenic acid. Please don’t reach for a cup of that tomorrow morning.

The mice did not lose any weight when they got the chlorogenic acid, but researchers did document some prevention of obesity, a beneficial effect on insulin resistance, and less accumulation of fat in the livers of the treated mice. No humans were studied.

Nonetheless, it’s worth noting that evidence is accumulating for the benefits of coffee on your liver’s health. Evidence to date suggests (but does not definitively prove) that coffee consumption may lead to less fibrosis and mortality from liver disease.

So don’t count on coffee to save you from obesity, but it’s just possible that your liver will thank you for your coffee habit.

Click here to read the research publication, here to read more from the PBS NewsHour, and here to read more on the effects of coffee on liver health.

Coffee, photograph © Filippo Diotalevi / flickr

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