Did you make New Year’s resolutions? Let me guess, it had something to do with fitness… Have you given up on them yet? In fact, nearly 60 percent of people who take them will give up within six months. Losing weight takes time – time most people do not have in this fast paste life. So it is easier to give up or fall victim to the numerous trendy quick fixes.
It seems we are always wild for the newest natural supplements promising to quickly make us slim and beautiful. The latest craze is no different. It has been praised as almost miraculous in its ability to help you lose weight without the need to change your diet or your exercise regime.
Is it too good to be true? Haven’t we heard these claims a hundred times before? Remember raspberry keytones, hoodia, and yerba mate? This certainly has not stopped Green Coffee Bean Extract from flying off the shelves. Like numerous other vastly popular natural supplements or products, the Green Coffee Bean Extract (GCBE) fad originated from the Dr. Oz show. In September, Dr.Oz even conducted his own experiment on the supplement, using 100 women volunteers, in an effort to silence the critics. The women who were given the extract lost an average of two pounds a week in two weeks, while the women who took placebo lost an average of one pound during that time.
What is it?
Coffee beans are actually green seeds inside a red berry. Roasting them is what gives the seeds their brown colour and creates the characteristic aroma and flavour java lovers crave every day. Green coffee beans are simply coffee beans that have not been roasted yet.
Does it work?
The numbers of studies or clinical trials on the topic are still limited at this point, but one study in particular is often mentioned when promoting the efficacy of GCBE. Dr. Joe Vinson, professor of chemistry at the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania, lead a 22-week study where subjects experienced significant reductions in body weight, body mass index, and percent of body fat.
This study a widely cited as proof that GCBE helps you lose weight, but many experts and scientists remain skeptical on the subject.
If GCBE works for weight loss, it may be due to a natural compound called chlorogenic acid, which helps slow the release of glucose in the body. So far, it seems to be a relatively safe product in short-term use, but if you give it a try, you will want to check with your doctor first to make sure GCBE poses no risk to your health. Not to mention that it is not cheap, the cost adds up to almost $40 a month on average.
If you decide to go ahead and try GCBE for yourself, here is what Dr. Oz advises:
• Choose a green coffee bean supplement that contains chlorogenic acid extract, which can be listed as either GCA (green coffee antioxidant), or Svetol, says Dr. Oz. It should have a minimum of 45 percent chlorogenic acid.
• For the study that Dr. Oz conducted, participants were told to take 400 mg, three times a day, 30 minutes before each meal.
Sources:
Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, linear dose, crossover study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of a green coffee bean extract in overweight subjects
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3267522/
www.droz.com
