Study finds unsweetened coffee is linked to weight loss

ISLAMABAD: Drinking moderate amounts of coffee has been linked to lower rates of a range of health conditions, including type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Now, we may be able to add another benefit to the list. A study published October 1 in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition reports that drinking coffee is associated with weight loss. However, there is one catch — it must be drunk unsweetened.

The study authors noted that coffee is often consumed along with sugar, artificial sweeteners, cream, or non-dairy creamers.

The researchers wanted to investigate the relationships between how much coffee people drank, how much caffeine they consumed, and how their weight changed when considering what they added to their coffee.

They also wanted to examine whether coffee or caffeine could mitigate any weight change due to adding sugar.

The large study included 48,891 people from the Nurses’ Health Study, 83,464 people from the Nurses’ Health Study II, and 22,863 people from the Health Professional Follow-up Study.

All participants were asked to fill out questionnaires regarding their food and beverage consumption during the past year as well as over the next four years.

Data was collected for how much coffee they drank — both caffeinated and decaf — as well as what they chose to add to it.

The researchers then analyzed the data to determine what relationships existed between coffee intake and people’s weight throughout the course of the study.

They found that an increase in coffee consumption of one cup of unsweetened coffee was linked to a decrease in weight of around 0.12 kilograms (0.26 pounds).

On the other hand, when people increased their daily sugar intake by one teaspoon in any food or drink, they gained 0.09 kilograms (0.20 pounds).

Cream and non-dairy creamer did not appear to have any effect on weight.

The research team additionally noted that changes in coffee or sugar intake had a stronger effect on weight in both overweight and obese individuals and in younger people.

They further found that caffeine also affected weight. When people’s intake rose by 100 milligrams, the amount of caffeine found in a cup of coffee, weight gain was reduced by 0.08 kilograms (0.18 pounds).

Based on on their findings, the scientists concluded that, while increased coffee intake helped people lose weight, adding a teaspoon of sugar canceled out the effect.