Study: Unroasted coffee beans significantly help weight loss

Darci Marchese, wtop.com

WASHINGTON – Move over green tea – green coffee is all the rage. But there’s one big difference: This one you don’t drink.

Green coffee is the raw, unroasted bean, so it comes in the form of a supplement. Proponents say the little green beans can reduce appetite and help people lose weight.

In a small, 22 week study, researchers found that 16 overweight men and women lost an average of 17 pounds each after taking the supplement. They also lost 16 percent body fat.

Joe Vinson, professor of chemistry at the University of Scranton, presented the findings at the annual meeting of the American Chemical Society in San Diego earlier this year.

Dr. Lindsey Duncan, a celebrity nutritionist, says he’s impressed by the findings and explains why the green beans pack a punch.

“Fifty percent of the entire bean is chlorogenic acid, because it hasn’t been heated, it hasn’t been destroyed.”

He explains regular brown coffee beans lack chlorogenic acid because they are heated and brewed.

Other members of the medical community say the small study is just preliminary and larger studies need to be done.

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(Copyright 2012 by WTOP. All Rights Reserved.)

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