Green Coffee Bean Extract - Your Diet Pill Savior?

August 3, 2012 67 Comments

Do you wish you could take a pill and all the extra pounds would just melt off your body? Join the club.

Man, that would be great. I could just eat all day and not worry about gaining weight. Hello, ice cream sundae :)

I receive many e-mails about dietary supplements and weight loss pills. This one is from Marie:

I just came across a post on Green Coffee Extract. I tried to look up some research on it, but most of what I found had a link to the product. According to a Dr Oz clipping it's supposed to help you lose weight and all sorts of other stuff.

Warning bells were ringing in my head the whole time I was listening as it sounded too good to be true. Since I look to you as a reliable source on healthy eating, I was wondering what your thoughts were on the Green Coffee Extract and if you knew of any studies being done on its benefits/problems.

Marie, you are one smart woman. I watched a video of Dr. Oz talking about this pill and he used the words “magical” and “miracle”. That scared me as well.

How many times have we been pitched something miraculous only to find that our credit card bill is enormous and we are the same size?

I don’t want to get into a discussion about Dr. Oz and his choices. I used to be a fan when he was on Oprah showing us lungs that were corrupted from lung disease, but I haven’t watched his new show.

I went looking for more information on the study that Dr. Oz cited in his video. I found this great post - Dr. Oz and Green Coffee Beans - More Weight Loss Psuedoscience.

The research study, based in Bangalore, India, that convinced Dr. Oz of the magic beans efficacy is very flawed. Not only was it funded by a supplement manufacturer (RED FLAG) it had only 16 people in it.

The study claims that there was no difference in calorie type or intake, yet the participants lost an average of 17 pounds in 22 weeks.

ummmm, how does that work? You see, I can see an appetite suppressant aiding in weight loss. Of course, you would be eating less because you weren’t hungry. But, these people ate the same amount and lost weight? Or, the pill revved their metabolism SO much that the pounds melted off?

Perhaps, the pill blocked the absorption of calories. How could that happen without side effects? (like lacking energy)

Or maybe it is really magic!

The author of the study theorizes a chemical in the unroasted bean called chlorogenic acid could be responsible. Other experts suspect the stimulant properties of caffeine could be the culprit. (ABC News)

The participants on the Dr. Oz show (who both lost weight taking the supplement) said that they felt fuller. Were they eating less? Their experience seems to contradict what the research paper indicated.

There are just too many questions that remain unanswered to say that this actually going to make a difference in weight loss.

Hopefully, another group of researchers will do a study that is scientifically sound. Until then, I would follow the advice of this Amazon.com reviewer of Green Coffee Extract:

Don't waste your money. It is all in your head. None of theses things really work. When will I ever learn? Hopefully this is the last time I will be taken in. If these things were for real, everyone would be thin.

Exactly!! We would all just take pills and look like Elle Macpherson.

My advice is to ignore this stuff. Treat it as “noise” and keep making small changes to your diet that will lead to losing weight. You just need to keep doing the hard work.

What do you think of Green Coffee Extract?

Photo credit: Slashme at the English Language Wikipedia.