Coffee can help us burn fat, study finds
LifestyleNew research links coffee to effectively burning fat
Yep, another health study about coffee. For the last few years, coffee has been a major research topic for scientists around the world. Why? Because a sh*t ton of people drink it, and we still have so much to learn about the daily morning elixir that seemingly brings us back from the dead each and every morning.
We've learned previously that coffee can help reduce your risk of cancer, Type 2 diabetes, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and heart disease, in addition to helping you focus and even exercise better. Even up to 25 cups a day is still safe for your heart.
Basically, coffee is magic. And a new study from the University of Nottingham supports this claim even more.
The University of Nottingham looked at how coffee affects body fat. To give it context: Our bodies have two different types of fat — white adipose tissue (WAT) and brown adipose tissue (BAT — the good fat).
BAT helps moderate our body chemistry to make us healthy. It helps us handle blood sugar, increase bone health and density, and helps us burn WAT efficiently. To burn WAT efficiently, we're encouraged to exercise so we activate BAT. When BAT is active, we concert WAT into energy and burn fat.
Now, scientists have found that coffee can literally help our bodies burn fat in the same way exercising can. Coffee heats up our BAT, similar to what exercising does, in result helping our bodies to burn fat.
"We all have that warm feeling after we drink a cup of coffee, because we're stimulating that brown fat," Dr. David Agus said in an interview. "It's important and interesting that we actually know the mechanism now. ... The goal is to stimulate brown fat. Exercise stimulates brown fat. Good sleep stimulates brown fat. And now we know caffeine or coffee can do the same."
Of course, coffee has more benefits when you leave the additives out — so if you're trying to be healthier with your coffee choices, leave the cream and sugar behind.