Is it true that caffeine is used to lose weight?
Moderately drunk coffee is healthy and doctors do not advise against it. However, several studies question whether taking caffeine can make you lose weight. Let's see what is true and how coffee affects our metabolism.
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Caffeine affects our metabolism. It accelerates the rhythm in which our body works , since it has an influence on our nervous system. That can increase your calorie intake .
That has been the factor that some diets recommend or use the contribution of caffeine as an element to lose weight .
the real effects of caffeine
" There are studios for all tastes. Some corroborate that it increases the metabolism, but they are small jobs with a very small percentage of the population ", warns the pharmacist and nutritionist Elisa Escorihuela .
In addition, these studies indicate that cortisone levels increase , which converts proteins into carbohydrates, and causes us anxiety and desire to eat foods of poorer quality , unhealthy.
There are studies both for and against using caffeine in the diet
Other studies say that it does serve to lose weight since it increases the metabolism up to 6% , but this in itself does not suppose a clear change of weight if it is not done together with a balanced diet and exercise. In the end you do not know if the participants in the study were losing weight just because of the diet or also the caffeine had intervened.
EITHER NOT TRUE TO REMOVE HUNGER
A new study, somewhat broader, has ruined another of the possible effects: that you eat less for the consumption of caffeine.
The University of Buffalo, in the United States, did the test and found that people who drank caffeine at breakfast were satisfied before and ate ten percent less in that meal.
However, all recovered that lack of nutrients in the following meals of the day and at the end of the study the weight was the same as that of people who had not taken caffeine.
POSSIBLE ADVERSE EFFECTS of caffeine
"Every time we are more aware that there is no single basic element that helps us lose weight," says Escorihuela. " Coffee itself is neither better nor worse ingredient than others and can contribute to a certain point but within a set of balanced diet ."
Coffee by itself will have no effect on weight if it is not accompanied by diet and exercise
- Coffee causes irritation and nervousness in people especially sensitive to this component.
- Likewise, it can also create discomfort and insomnia problems . Sleeping little and badly has been proven scientifically that can promote obesity, in addition to causing other health problems.
IT DEPENDS ON THE QUANTITY…
Do not forget that the dose is important. To achieve its effects you can not take more than 3 or 4 cups a day. Overcoming them is already very much and the adverse effects can be worse than the possible benefit.
- eware of caffeine sources , because it is not only in the coffee cup. There are many hidden sources . For example, drinks with cola and some energy drinks that have caffeine doses even higher than coffee.
- You also have to include tea . In this tea we talk about another name, the theina , but it is the same molecule as caffeine although its effects are milder (it depends on the amount of tea you consume).
The tea is the same molecule as caffeine
Then there are drinks and foods that add taurine, another exciting that adds to the total of products that can alter our body.
All this without counting that most drinks that have caffeine also have a lot of sugar , so if we lose weight we would be going in the opposite direction.
... OF THE TYPE OF COFFEE ...
Of the most common varieties, arabica coffee , in all its variants, is softer and contains less caffeine than the robust coffee variety.
We should also take into consideration the type of preparation.
- It is preferable to roast at low temperatures (natural roast ) and that which is made without sugar, since the formation of toxic substances is reduced. It is distinguished because the grains are more claritos.
- The one that is toasted with sugar and at high temperatures (roasted coffee) , which in fact is the most popular in Spain and Italy, releases other toxic products, which are also not healthy.
Regarding the way to prepare it , if you drink espresso coffee, in a filter or in a traditional coffee maker, the differences in the amount of caffeine are few . The espresso may have more, but the amount that is ingested is lower. The filter is usually for a large cup of American coffee which compensates, in addition, the water is longer in contact with coffee and in the end absorbs more caffeine.
... AND ALSO OF THE PERSON
These data are always in generic. But it is important to point out that all the effects will depend in a clear way also on the person.
If you are a woman or a man, you do not assimilate, men tend to be more sensitive and affect them more.
- Men are more affected by caffeine than women
Also the corpulence is fundamental. The consumption of someone with 50 kilos is not the same as another with 80.
- The particular characteristics. Not all of us assimilate the active principles of nutrients in the same way . Caffeine to some hardly takes away the sleep and others the minimum amount already reveals them.
the positive of caffeine
However, as we indicated at the beginning, there are also many studies that support the consumption of caffeine. Among other benefits, it helps us wake up, concentrate and gives us more resistance in sports, which makes us more active, one of the basic elements of a healthy life.
" The line between benefits and prejudices is very thin, " recalls nutritionist Escarihuela. Moderation and not be dazzled by a study that points to the wonderful or inadvisable of a food are the best criteria for consumption.