Sip Happens: Moderate Caffeinated Coffee Consumption Brews Favorable Fat Loss, Says 2023 Study
The short answer
Moving from almost no coffee to one to seven cups a week was associated with less total body fat, less trunk fat, and less visceral fat. Jumping to more than one cup a day was not, and decaf showed nothing at all. Jerred and Joe break down a 2023 Clinical Nutrition paper that followed 1,483 adults with metabolic syndrome for three years using DXA scans, then talk through how they each handle caffeine themselves.
The study behind this episode
Garage Gym Athlete Workout of the Week
Frequently asked questions
How much coffee did the study call moderate?
One to seven cups per week. Low or infrequent was three cups a month or less, and high was more than one cup per day.
Does drinking more coffee burn more fat?
Not according to this data. The favorable changes showed up when people went from almost none to moderate. Moving to high intake produced no significant association with body fat at all.
Does decaf work the same way?
No. Changes in decaffeinated coffee consumption showed no significant relationship with any of the DXA measures, which suggests caffeine is doing the work rather than the other compounds in coffee.
What is visceral adipose tissue?
The fat stored around your internal organs rather than under the skin. It is the fat most strongly associated with metabolic disease risk, which is why the researchers measured it separately.
How strong was the effect?
Modest. Reductions were roughly 0.06 to 0.07 of a standard deviation in sex-specific z-scores for total body fat, trunk fat, and visceral fat. Real, measurable, and small.
Does this apply to me if I am healthy?
Cautiously. The cohort was 1,483 adults with metabolic syndrome inside a Mediterranean diet and exercise trial, so the findings are cleanest for people who look like that group.
Does this prove coffee causes fat loss?
No. It is an observational analysis of changes over three years, so it establishes association. The honest takeaway is that a moderate coffee habit is not working against you and may help slightly.
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