What if we told you that increasing your coffee intake could lead to lasting weight loss? You’d probably give us some serious side-eye, right?
Well, after examining two years of data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, researchers from Anglia Ruskin University have found that drinking more than two cups daily can lower your level of body fat.
In comparison to those who only enjoyed a brew on occasion, women aged between 20 and 43 years old who drank two to three cups daily had 3.4 per cent less body fat.
Women aged between 45 and 69 who drank four or more cups per day showed even greater body fat loss (4.1 per cent.)
Most surprisingly? Decaf coffee had the same effect.
Lead researcher Lee Smith puts this down to bioactive compounds (aside from caffeine) that have the potential to regulate our weight.
“It could be that coffee, or its effective ingredients, could be integrated into a healthy diet strategy to reduce the burden of other chronic conditions related to the obesity epidemic,” he said in a statement.
And although this may come as a welcome perk to many, it’s important to remember not to overdo it. Risk of cardiovascular disease increases with high blood pressure (which, by the way, is a consequence of excess caffeine consumption.)
Between 4-6 cups per day is generally considered the tipping point. You’ve officially been warned.
