Green Coffee and Weight Loss

Weight loss in a bottle. People have been searching for that as long as there have been bottles and something to put in them. The Phen/Fen craze from years ago seemed to be such a panacea but that fell apart with its harmful side effects. In our 24 hour a day, all news all the time world sometimes even facts don't mean that you should be impressed by them. People need to dig deeper and get the whole story. Case in point - a client told me about the early '90s when it was clinically proven that zinc and chromium helped build muscle and reduce fat. Clinically proven as a fact! As a result, supplements for those products went though the roof. The problem was their contribution was such a tiny percentage of cause that it became a waste of money scenario. The added weight loss was about 5% and the added muscle gain was about 3%. That means someone working out hard who had lost 10 pounds of fat and gained 10 pounds of muscle would have lost an additional 8 ounces of fat and gained an additional 5 ounces of muscle. Seems like a lot of money wasted to me. My advice - keep working out hard and those extra results would have come anyway. That said, there has been a small study that seems to show that green coffee extract may be an aid in assisting with weight loss. It has received national attention and was even featured on the Dr. Oz show. (However, even Dr. Oz said during that show that there is no substitute for great nutrition and continuous exercise so I don't want my clients cancelling on me just yet). In a study done that was presented at the National Meeting and Exposition of the American Chemical Society in March of this year a very small experimental group (16 people) seemed to have significant weight loss when taking over 1,000 mg. of green coffee extract daily over a five month period of time. The amount of loss averaged ten percent of body weight per person. The effects are believed to be the result of a substance called chlorogenic acid that is present in raw coffee beans before they are roasted. While more studies need to be done, it appears that it is safe with no side effects and may be used as a part of a healthy nutrition / exercise program. As was cautioned by Dr. Oz - make sure you get a supplement that is pure from a reputable manufacturer.