Green Coffee Beans: Health Benefits , Side Effects and More

The talks about green coffee beans are in the social media platforms for its many health benefits. Many people want to know about the ingredient and whether it has any beneficial effects at all.

In order to answer all such queries that have arisen in the minds of the people, the article is being written after extensive research and study on the subject.

About the green coffee

The green coffee beans are the same beans from which black coffee is made. The only difference between the green coffee and the black coffee is that in the case of green coffee the beans are not roasted and kept in the raw state to retain the bioactive phytochemicals in it.

Green coffee beans are used by people with the hope of getting health benefits. People also use the green coffee beans for making hot drinks. While drinks made from the roasted version of the green coffee taste good and a bit mild, the drinks made from green coffee beans have a raw taste more like any herbal drink.

As the green coffee beans are not roasted all the components in it remain intact. It contains a huge amount of chlorogenic acid. Chlorogenic acids have antioxidants as well as anti-inflammatory properties which may have beneficial effects on health.

Green Coffee Extract In Weight Loss

Obesity and overweight are the two main concerns facing people all over the world. A number of health supplements have appeared on the online market posing as solutions to this grave issue. One such weight loss product is green coffee extract or GCE.

GCE is extracted from the raw green coffee beans called coffea canephora robusta, using alcohol. The final product GCE is then marketed under a number of brands using marketing strategies.

In double-bind, placebo controlled clinical studies it has been found to reduce weight by consuming GCE. Also there are some positive results of consuming GCE in the case of long-term loss of weight. The researchers have attributed this to the thermogenesis which is triggered in the body due to the consumption of the green coffee extract for weight loss.

While studying the effects of GCE on older people it was noticed that GCE has caused some changes in the glycaemic markers.

GCE is expected to have some effects on regulating the secretion of hormones and the tolerance against glucose in humans. It is thought that these effects of GCE are due to the fact that by consuming GCE, glucose absorption is facilitated to be done from the distal part of the intestine rather than from the proximal part.

However the result of the study revealed that there is a significant reduction of weight for the people with GCE compared to the people on placebo. But one point of apprehension lies in the magnitude of the difference. As the magnitude of difference is in the moderate levels there remains some scope of uncertainty in the final conclusion. Further long term trials with an expanded sample population are required to be done in future to ascertain the effects of GCE on weight loss conclusively.

Check Here which Diet Supplement contains the most Green Coffee Extract

Other beneficial effects of GCE

There is evidential proof that polyphenols have preventive effects against a number of diseases which are linked to oxidative stress. GCE does have some antioxidant activities. The antioxidants eliminate the free radicals from the body. The free radicals have many harmful effects on the human body. It causes oxidative stress and damages tissues and organs. Oxidative stress is said to be the cause of many diseases such as heart ailments and cancer.

Dietary phenols which are available in the GCE may have influence in modifying the uptake of glucose. In this way the consumption of GCE may have an impact on weight loss.

The proper doses of GCE for getting good results have not yet been established. All the clinical tests suggested only an estimated dose. Further studies with larger sample size for a longer time will only be able to establish all the parameters of getting good results.

One 8 week study was conducted involving 50 people to find the effects of green coffee extract on chronic diseases such as elevated blood pressure and blood sugar. All the 50 people who were included in the study were having such sorts of diseases. The persons were provided with 400 mg of green coffee extract two times a day for 8 weeks.

It was a controlled trial. The persons who were on GCE were found to have improved significantly in parameters such as blood sugar levels, blood pressure levels and waist measurement compared to the people who were on placebo.

Here also further study with larger sample size is required to make a conclusive assessment. But nevertheless the results are promising and demand further investigations.

Side effects of Green Coffee Extract

Like the roasted coffee beans, the green coffee beans too contain caffeine. Moderate amounts of caffeine intake is mostly safe for the average number of healthy people. But when you take too much of caffeine it may cause some side effects as below:

Anxiety
Sleep apnea
Enhanced blood pressure

A single cup of coffee provides approximately 100 mg of caffeine. In the case of green coffee the amount of caffeine may be slightly less as a small amount of caffeine gets lost during the roasting process to make black coffee beans. But the amount of caffeine lost is quite negligible.

When you take GCE in the form of capsules you consume 20 to 50 mg of caffeine per capsule. In some brands of GCE, decaffeinated capsules are also available.

You may adjust your intake accordingly so that the caffeine intake remains within a tolerable limit.

One study on animals has shown that when animals are provided with some daily dose of caffeine for two months there was a significant depletion of calcium in the tissues of the bones. The trial points to another side effect of consuming GCE. However further studies on humans can only conclusively suggest the effects of GCE on bone health on humans.