Recently, among the passionately willing to lose weight, means based on green coffee beans have become very popular. Why is green - and not ordinary, roasted, familiar to all and beloved by many people? Practically the only substance that is contained in green coffee - and partially disintegrates during roasting - is chlorogenic acid.
And there were many reports that the chlorogenic acid (CGC) contained in them is a unique “fat burner”. It would seem that we should rejoice at the fact that the “elixir of harmony” was found, but the suspicion is too bright, the advertising character of such messages.
We hope that most readers have already realized that advertising should be trusted with caution. And if we are talking about a substance, then it is not bad to turn to the opinion of professionals who study substances and their properties, i.e. chemists. Interestingly, at the dawn of the formation of chemical science, Robert Boyle called his famous work "The Skeptical Chemist". We will try, and we take a new way to lose weight with a fair amount of healthy skepticism and separate the truth from the myths.
What is chlorogenic acid, and what is it eaten with?
Let’s take as an initial source of information the article “Chlorogenic acid. Biochemistry and Physiology "(authors - Ukrainian researchers A.P. Levitsky, A.E. Vertikova, I.A. Selivanskaya) and try to translate it from a scientific language into a public language. HCG is not just an acid. It is an ester, a compound of two acids (caffeine and quinine), each of which is also a biologically active substance.
In the plant world, HGC is a fairly common substance. Most of it is found in dry bilberry leaves (1–10%), stevia (3–12%), and coffee beans (5–10%). In much smaller quantities, CGC was found in the fruits of bilberry, blueberry, barberry, as well as in artichokes, peanuts, chicory, dandelion. Very little of it in common fruits, berries, vegetables and other foods, except grapes and (attention!) - except for sunflower seeds.
Chemists in ordinary seeds find from 0.6 to 5% chlorogenic acid. This is already alarming! Traditional lovers of sunflower seeds - Khokhlushki and Kuban Cossacks - are unlikely to pass the casting for the role of models in the commercials of dietary supplements for weight loss.
So, first myth:
"Green coffee is a unique natural source of chlorogenic acid and therefore helps to lose weight."
The same analytical chemists in the roasted coffee find CHC in the amount of 5.5%, and in soluble coffee - up to 10%. When roasting its content is not so much reduced, and the sublimation technology of making instant coffee even increases its concentration in the finished product.
Therefore, we have second myth:
"Chlorogenic acid is completely destroyed when roasting coffee beans"
From chemistry to biology. Chlorogenic acid and mice
Photo: www.thetimes.co.uk
Now we will consider what is known about the biological effect of chronic hydrochloride. Both in purely chemical experiments and in experiments on laboratory mice, high antioxidant activity of chlorogenic acid was established. This useful property reduces the activity of some adverse oxidative processes in the body. HCG is 27 times more than antioxidants of grapefruit, but it is much inferior to caffeic acid. But with the metabolism in the body of ChGC caffeic acid is just formed.
Unfortunately, the effect of chlorogenic acid on the weight change in experimental animals has so far been studied very little. Fragmentary information does not allow to draw final conclusions. Australian biologists, giving significant doses of CHC to mice, did not detect the effect of counteracting obesity in the diet of excess calories.
Moreover, in thorough studies by Korean scientists on the antidiabetic activity of chlorogenic acid, a significant increase in the weight of diabetic mice receiving CHGC was revealed. The level of glucose in the blood of mice not receiving CHGC increased, and in the experimental group was kept at a stable level. Those. diabetes help is there, but the weight is gaining something! It is necessary to deal with this in more detail. The same Koreans found that the substance in question increases the activity of the glycogen transporter GLUT4 in adipose tissue. It turns out that in experiments on mice, the opposite effect was established. Chlorogenic acid leads to the fact that glucose from the blood more easily penetrates into the cells and accumulates in the form of glycogen, a part of which is subsequently converted into fat.
It is worth mentioning the fact that CGC in the diet of mice led to a significant increase in the concentration in the blood of such an important substance for lipid (fat) metabolism as insulin. Other interesting properties of CHC are participation in complex biochemical processes that reduce the risk of malignant neoplasms and the formation of cholesterol plaques in blood vessels. These undoubted advantages of the drug can not lead to "fat burning" and weight loss with excess weight.
Turns out that third myth:
"Chlorogenic acid - fat burner"
“Is it true that green coffee is losing weight ...?” Or people are not mice!
A strange situation turns out. On the one hand, we have testimonies from people who have successfully used green coffee-based slimming products. On the other hand, a vague advertising explanation of the mechanism of action, serious experiments showing that chlorogenic acid has many advantages, but is not capable of decomposing fat accumulated in the human body. Where does this contradiction come from? Is it just a self-suggestion, a “placebo effect” or just a “divorce”? Or green coffee is still useful and helps to lose weight? Can't all reviews be false?
The term "fat burner" is just a catchy advertising phrase. Fat burning is the oxidation of it to the formation of water and carbon dioxide. It is very doubtful that you can create a substance that will conduct this process in a living organism, and it is so reasonable that it will be able to distinguish the desired fat from the unnecessary.
Interestingly, the sellers of these drugs for athletes (first of all - body builders) are more honest than those who promote dietary supplements for housewives. No wonder. Driving by the nose of physically powerful people is fraught with serious consequences. Specialists in sports nutrition can pick up the necessary information and us. They specifically write that "fat burners" do not destroy fat by chemical means, but speed up and change the metabolism, so that the fat is spent on the reimbursement of the body's energy costs.
So, people are not mice. Rodents have eaten enough and sleep contented with life, and the person who has really set himself the goal of losing weight, is working. And in this may well help coffee (not green, but the most common - including soluble). Some factors are like that.
- Active literate advertising inspires a person to believe in success, and a positive attitude is half the success.
- The tonic properties of coffee, due to the complex of alkaloids (caffeine, theophylline, theobromine), lead to a more active lifestyle, to expend more energy.
- Facilitation of the cardiovascular and insulin systems with chlorogenic acid provides better tolerance of physical and mental stress.
- Accelerating the exchange of glucose between the blood and cells due to the action of CGC hinders the conversion of carbohydrates into fats with an active lifestyle
- The diuretic properties caused by alkaloids - accelerate the excretion of fat breakdown products from the body.
- Green coffee is recommended drink before meals or during meals. But what nutritionists say about plain water:
"But if you drink before a meal, you can lose weight! Water drunk before meals, carries away from the stomach weakened digestive juices, activates digestion and quenches the first attack of hunger, which leads to saturation with a smaller amount of food. It is recommended to drink 10-15 minutes before food. If you drink juice, then there are better minutes in 25-30. " (Doctor nutritionist-gastroenterologist Oksana Komarova.
The same consideration is expressed by the coffee specialist Sergey Reminny in his article on green coffee.
Harm of green coffee
Do not experiment with your health! And also spend money on it! Remember - green coffee is not a food product - but the raw material for its production. It is collected and stored in unsanitary conditions, can be treated with gases - for the destruction of pests. When roasting and processing all the harmful substances are destroyed - but the raw materials (that is, green coffee) - may even be dangerous to health.
And finally, we recommend you to watch the famous show "Says Ukraine" - release, just dedicated to green coffee.
So, we tried to tell you the whole truth about green coffee - if it helps to lose weight, about its benefits and the harm it can bring.
Preparations based on green coffee, not a panacea that allows you to destroy fat without getting up from the couch. But real, high-quality roasted coffee combined with sports and proper nutrition can help get rid of fat!
Be healthy!
