Is Coffee Helpful for Weight Loss?

Coffee is a drink made from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, and it was first used in the middle of the fifteenth century in the Sufi monasteries of the Yemen in southern Arabia.

From these hazy and mystical Middle Eastern origins it spread to Italy and Central Europe, with the first European coffee house opening in Italy in 1645 (it wasn't a Starbucks by the way), then to Indonesia and finally across to the Americas.

Coffee is without doubt a brewed beverage of epic historical ebbs and flows having been infused by politics, religion and economics over the last few hundred years or so. It is a beverage of capacious historical socio-economic importance, and it tastes nice.

Today, coffee is more popular than it has ever been, and it is a bigger consumer business than it has ever been. It is enjoyed by quite literally tens of millions of people each and every day.

Consumption statistics, for instance, show that coffee is the most popular beverage worldwide with over 400 billion cups drunk each year; moreover, coffee represents 75% of all the caffeine consumed in the United States alone. We like our coffee! 

It is not without its critics, though. Caffeinism – the over consumption of caffeine – can contribute to diarrhoea, high blood pressure, rapid breathing, heart palpitations, sleep disturbance, mood swings, depression and prostate trouble.

According to Ralph T. Golan, ND, coffee "burns out" the adrenal glands, while Gayle Reichler MS RD CDN says that coffee exacerbates stress in "addicted" consumers.

The overwhelming scientific consensus, however, is that 1-3 cups of coffee is not harmful at all. The consumption of caffeinated drinks at levels of 200-300 mg caffeine a day (3-4 cups of coffee) has no adverse effect on hydration and is safe, say the experts (Grandjean et al., 2000; Maughan & Griffin, 2003; Ganio et al., 2007).

Indeed, the stimulatory effects of coffee on the nervous system may be positively helpful to general well-being and weight loss in particular, it has been suggested.

A single cup of coffee, for example, produces a temporary increase in mental clarity and energy levels, improves muscular-coordinated work activity, increases brain activity and stimulates the cardiovascular system, raising blood pressure and heart rate, AND it speeds up the body by increasing the basal metabolic rate (BMR) which burns more calories, says Elson M Haas MD.

Coffee also increases respiratory rates, and for people with tight airways, it can open breathing passages; it a diuretic and a mild laxative too, he adds.

So, if you want to lose weight, and if it safe for you to do so, try adding 1-3 cups of coffee to your daily living regime. It just might help you to burn a few extra "easy" calories along the way, and the good news is that they all count.