Coffee component may have fat fighting benefit

A cup of coffee may do more than just give sleepyheads a jolt of caffeine to get them going in the morning. Researchers at the University of Nottingham found that drinking a cup of coffee may play a role in weight management and diabetes control.

Their study published in Scientific Reports found that coffee consumption stimulated brown adipose tissue, also called brown fat, which plays a key role in how fast calories are burned as energy. Brown fat, one of two types of fat found in humans and other mammals, generates body heat by burning calories. (The other type of fat, white fat, is a result of storing excess calories.)

The researchers first conducted stem cell studies to see if caffeine would stimulate brown fat and to determine the dose. Then they used a thermal imaging technique to locate brown fat and gauge its ability to produce heat in human subjects.

The researchers say that further research will try to determine if caffeine is the stimulus or another ingredient in coffee. The findings from the current study and future research in determining the actual component could shed some light on the potential of the component in a weight management regime or glucose regulation program to help prevent diabetes, says the researchers.