Blackmores Institute

The American study examined the relation between coffee consumption and DXA-assessed adiposity and adiposity distribution using cross-sectional data from the NHANES. Participants were adults aged 20–69 y from the 2003– 2004 and 2005–2006 waves, with information on coffee consumption assessed through the food frequency questionnaire (categorised as no coffee, 0 to &lt;0.25 cup/d, 0.25 to &lt;1 cup/d, 1 cup/d, 2–3 cups/d, or ≥4 cups/d). Both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee consumption was included. “Trunk fat and total fat percentage were measured via whole-body DXA scans with results showing higher coffee consumption was associated with significantly lower total body fat percentage and trunk body fat percentage in a dose-response manner (all P values &lt; 0.05) among women.“Although this dose–response relation was nonsignificant among men, men aged 20–44 y who drank 2–3 cups/d had 1.3% (95% CI: −2.7%, 0.1%) less total fat and 1.8% (95% CI: −3.3%, −0.4%) less trunk fat than those who did not consume coffee. Furthermore, the association between coffee consumption and body fat percentage exhibited for both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee among women (all P for trend &lt; 0.001) but not among men (all P for trend &gt; 0.05),” the authors explained.Prompted by the widespread consumption of coffee in the United States and understanding its influence on health, the authors proposed that their results suggest that there are bioactive compounds in coffee other than caffeine that regulate weight, and which could potentially serve as anti-obesity compounds. “For example, Murase et al. showed that administration of coffee polyphenols to mice with a high- fat diet prevented weight gain, enhanced metabolic rate, and increased expression of mitochondrial uncoupling protein 2 (UCP2) mRNA in adipose tissue. Moreover, UCP2 is widely expressed in the human body, being an important regulator of energy balance,” the authors said.Noting the differences between the sexes, the authors claim that the sex steroid hormone plays a crucial role in regulating the amount and distribution of adipose tissues and that their finding that regular coffee consumption may ameliorate central obesity among the elderly and women. “In this large representative sample of US adults, coffee consumption was associated with lower adiposity as measured by DXA, particularly among women. These findings suggest that coffee and/or its effective ingredients could be integrated into a healthy diet strategy to reduce the burden of chronic conditions related to the obesity epidemic,” the authors concluded.
 
 Source:
 J Nutr. 2020. DOI: <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/jn/nxaa121 ">10.1093/jn/nxaa121</a>

Good news for coffee drinkers with a new study finding that drinking coffee regularly can have a positive effect on reducing your body fat.

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