Eat fat? Drink coffee

By 17. November 2014Blog, Health, Nutrition

If you are eating a high fat diet, you may want to consider drinking a few coffees along with it.

An article published in September’s edition of the journal Pharmaceutical Research, demonstrates that when mice are fed a high fat diet supplemented with Chlorogenic acid (CGA) found in coffee, it helps to attenuate diet induced obesity.

The researchers set up two experiments, in one, they fed 6 weeks old mice on a high fat diet or regular chow supplemented twice weekly with 100 mg/kg body weight of CGA or a placebo. In the second experiment obese mice were given either 100 mg/kg body weight of CGA or a placebo twice weekly.

Mice fed CGA showed less sign of insulin resistance and had reduced signs of Hepatic steatosis (fatty liver) including lower levels of proteins associated with liver inflammation. CGA did not lead to a decrease in body weight though.

CGA is an antioxidant and is also found in large amounts in sunflower seeds, teas and blueberries. It is found in lesser amounts in foods such as potato and bamboo.

For those of you looking at the name and thinking that it has chlorine in it don’t panic, it does not. It comes from Greek meaning “light green” as it turns green when oxidised.

Click here to go to the abstract of the article.