A small study reported impressive weight losses in a group of 16 overweight patients.  These patients took a green coffee bean extract. The patients were eight men and eight women between the ages of 22 and 46.  Each received a dose of 1,050 mg. of green coffee bean extract for six weeks, then a lower dosage of 700 mg. for another six weeks and finally a placebo for six weeks.  Between each six-week phase there was a two-week “washout” period during which the paticipants took no supplements.  Results showed that they lost an average of 17.5 pounds in 22 weeks, reducing their overall body weight by 10.5 percent.  No side effects were reported.

No diet was involved in this study.  In fact, the participants’ average food intake was about 2,400 calories a day.  They burned about 400 calories daily in exercise and lost slightly more weight when taking the highest dose of green coffee extract.  Dr. Vinson (the doctor involved in the study) commented that the caffeine in the extract probably was not responsible for the weight loss seen in the study.  Instead, he suggested that the green coffee bean extract may have worked by reducing the body’s absorption of fat and glucose, and that the key chemical player was chlorogenic acid, a compound present in green coffee beans.  All these doses, chlorogenic acid may inhibit release of glucose, which would promote weight loss.  A 2006 study in rats showed that chlorogenic acid significalntly influence glucose metabolism.  It has also been found to boost the metabolism of fat in the liver in mice!  Might be worth a try! However, what we don’t know is how the green tea extract was formulated for the study, or where it came from.  I don’t think supplement stores sell this high a dose.