Does Caffeine Help Weight Loss?

It sure would be nice to drink a few cups of our favorite java concoctions and grow slimmer by the day.  Well, to put things in perspective, caffeine just may be another tool we could use to keep ourselves trim, at least according to a study conducted at the University of Illinois.

Per the Journal of Functional Foods caffeine may offset some of the negative effects from weight gains from a poor diet. Now, that doesn’t give us a license to eat non-foods instead of the healthier whole food plant based style of eating.

But from the results of rat testing over a four week period, the percentage of lean body mass of the rat group ingesting caffeine equivalent to that of a human who drinks four cups of coffee daily, revealed less body fat accumulation than rats in the other groups. (All rat groups were fed a diet that contained 40% fat, 45% carbohydrate and 15% protein).

According to Elvira Gonzalez de Mejia, a co-author of the study: “Considering the findings, tea and caffeine can be considered anti-obesity agents.”