A new study indicates that coffee could help you lose weight by stimulating fat fighters in your body called “brown fat”.
Michael Symonds, a professor at the University of Nottingham and co-director of the study, said: “Brown fat is a unique organ that is used for producing heat. It’s present in quite small amounts in the body.”
What Is Brown Fat?
Brown fat cells are the body’s internal fat fighters. The body uses energy when it produces heat, thus burning calories. Brown fat, or brown adipose tissue, impacts how rapid one’s body burns calories.
In the past, this specific type of tissue was thought only to exist in hibernating mammals or babies.
However, studies have revealed it’s in adults too. People with a lower body mass index have more brown fat than people with a higher body mass index.
Symonds said:
Adults have between 50 and 100 grams of brown fat in their bodies, and when it is activated, it has the unique ability to produce 300 times more heat than any other organ in the body. When maximally activated, it can potentially produce up to 10% of the body’s daily heat.
Brown fat has lots of mitochondria and iron and can generate heat while metabolizing macronutrients such as glucose and heavy foods by burning calories. Meanwhile, white fat stores calories that haven’t been burned.
The Study
First, the researchers began by using stem cells from mice and human to test brown fat activity. Then they tested human volunteers by observing brown fat activity in the neck within one hour after drinking a coffee. The coffee was specifically a 65 mg of caffeine serving of Nescafe Original.
The researchers found that the consumption of coffee increased the activity of brown fat in humans. While the control, caffeine dissolved in water, had no impact on brown fat activity.
This is the first study that reveals how a cup of coffee can impact brown fat functions. The researcher’s next step will be to see if caffeine itself can activate brown fat.
Symonds said :
Coffee helps fight diabetes in addition to obesity because not only does coffee consumption increase the capability of brown fat, it improves glucose levels.
In a separate study we previously reported that researchers found that there are compounds found in coffee which inhibit prostate cancer.
Other Ways To Stimulate Brown Fat
Having more than three cups of coffee will not stimulate extra brown fat. Some other ways that you can stimulate ‘brown fat’ if you’re looking to lose weight, include exercise and good sleep.
