Will Caffeine Help Me Lose Fat? New Research
February 21st, 2009
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by Mike T Nelson · Filed Under: Uncategorized
Here is a great review about an age old question.
Does caffeine help you burn more fat?
The use of burning more fat for fuel is referred to as the “Randle effect” The more technical definition is the inhibition of the oxidation of glucose by an excess of fatty acids.
What?
The theory goes that caffeine should increase the LIBERATION of fat (e.g pulling those pesky fats out of their comfy home in the fat cell). In order to BURN fat, you first most get it into the blood stream.
However, I am not convinced that liberation of fat is the limiting step, I think BURNING fat is more limiting.
How does this help me loose my muffin top?
In short, I am not convinced that caffeine by itself is all that helpful to deflate your spare tire and shrink your muffin top. My recommendation is find a local fitness professuional (hey, I know a good one in White Bear Lake MN, shameless I know) to get you on the right track. Some Precision Nutrition, Z Health and Kettlebells make a killer combination!
If you are serious, drop me a line!
Mike T Nelson
Does caffeine alter muscle carbohydrate and fat metabolism during exercise?
Graham TE, Battram DS, Dela F, El-Sohemy A, Thong FS. Human Health and Nutritional Sciences, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G2W1, Canada.
Caffeine, an adenosine receptor antagonist, has been studied for decades as a putative ergogenic aid. In the past 2 decades, the information has overwhelmingly demonstrated that it indeed is a powerful ergogenic aid, and frequently theories have been proposed that this is due to alterations in fat and carbohydrate metabolism. While caffeine certainly mobilizes fatty acids from adipose tissue, rarely have measures of the respiratory exchange ratio indicated an increase in fat oxidation. However, this is a difficult measure to perform accurately during exercise, and small changes could be physiologically important.
The few studies examining human muscle metabolism directly have also supported the fact that there is no change in fat or carbohydrate metabolism, but these usually have had a small sample size. We combined the data from muscle biopsy analyses of several similar studies to generate a sample size of 16-44, depending on the measure.
We examined muscle glycogen, citrate, acetyl-CoA, glucose-6-phosphate, and cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) in resting samples and in those obtained after 10-15 min of exercise at 70%-85% maximal oxygen consumption. Exercise decreased (p
Conclusion: There is very little evidence to support the hypothesis that caffeine has ergogenic effects as a result of enhanced fat oxidation. Individuals may however, respond differently to the effects of caffeine, and there is growing evidence that this could be explained by common genetic variations.
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Its hard to come across good weight loss blogs for genuine people like me trying to drop a a couple of pounds! Thanks for another great post, i’ll stay tuned!
I’ll ok this, I myself have done alot of research on the subject and would have to say that this is close to being conclusive, however I personally believe that it still has energizing effects therefore giving “ME” the boost I need to power through my training. But saying it directly burns fat, from what I have come up with would have to be, no. But giving someone the energy to burn off a few extra calories through excersize I totally agree with. Then again thats just me.
Thanks for the comment Devan.
Yes, I would agree with you! Having more energy was the sum of my quote in Muscle and Fitness Hers awhile back
I too love a good cup of Joe before a heavy deadlift session.
Rock on
Mike T Nelson
WOW! Too many people like to agree with me, but i took the time to look it up and actually read the printed article…(yes I have far to many Muscle mags lying around) it was my my ex,ex,ex,ex,girlfriends but your right I did miss that you document that! My apologize, but I think we can both agree when it comes down to a cup of “Joe” its no longer a black cup O’ energy! People are either doing “shots” of energy huge cans of it or the triple latte low-fat non-fat 450 cals a cup of energy and its no good honestly, right? I mean a whats the good in burning calories if you load in a pounds worth trying too!
Sorry I ment to say “not” to many people agree with me! lol
Devan,
Yep, I would agree with you for sure! Adding 450 kcal with a foo foo coffee will not help your fat loss goals. Again, this does not mean you can’t have one on occasion as a treat, but as a daily intake, just dropping that alone will result in about a 1 lb loss per week.
If you are ever in La Ventana Mexico, check out Freak Dog Coffee for the best hazelnut latte ever. Seriously, it was amazing.
Thanks again for the comments!
Rock on
Mike T Nelson
Hey Mike.
Thanks for recommending our Lattes.
If you come back to La Ventana, we’re no longer at the green bed and breakfast where we were last year. We moved a mile north to El Sargento, where we have the roastery. We also have a moble Espresso Trailer.
You can always check the current location at http://www.FreakDogCoffee.com if you can’t find us.
Best,
John & Sol
Freak Dog Coffee ( Kijote Coffee )