Will A Cup of Regular Coffee Help My Sluggish Metabolism?
If you are an avid gym goer you have no doubt seen somebody drinking a Starbucks' coffee before stepping onto the treadmill for a run. You're probably like many people who thought, "What's up with that?"
No, this person isn't so addicted to caffeine that she or he cannot give up their vice before exercising. Caffeine, once thought to be a denigrator of human health has been shown in recent clinical research to reduce the possible risk of Parkinson's disease, protect against type 2 diabetes, promote a healthy heart, and lessen the chances of contracting liver disease or liver cancer.
Consuming caffeinated coffee before physical activity is not the same as smoking a cigarette or slamming a shot of tequila even though many people think these three well-known recreational drugs, caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol, are similar.
Research sited in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition concluded that caffeine has a thermogenic effect upon the human body. The term thermogenic refers to the physical heat that results from increasing the body's metabolism. The caffeine in coffee, chocolate, tea, soda, over-the-counter medicines, and diet pills can cause thermogenesis as well as reduce appetite, and increase the excretion of urine from the body. So not only does caffeine consumption give your brain a buzz and open wide your tired eyes, but it can also kill your hunger and cause you to urinate maybe a pound or two of water weight from off the scale at the same time.
If one cup of Joe is good, is two cups even better? It appears that caffeine does indeed have a dose-response effect. The outcome of a study also published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, that gave healthy adults caffeine in 100, 200, and 400 mg amounts concluded that the more caffeine consumed, the higher the thermogenic effect upon the coffee consumer at the 200 and 400mg amounts.
The positive clinical results gained by this AJCN study, spawned other research involving the effects of caffeine and metabolism. The American Journal of Physiology printed a study comparing the thermogenic effects on lean and obese caffeine consumers.
If you thought that life was undeservedly kind to the thin, fit, and muscular before, you will be sure of it now after reading the result of this AJP review.
Clinicians gave ten obese women and ten lean women caffeine in sufficient amounts to induce caffeine-stimulated thermogenesis. The ten lean women experienced a greater thermogenic effect which raised their metabolic rate higher than the more portly females and the calorie-incinerating effect lasted longer in the leaner test subjects than it did in the obese women who consumed the exact same amount of caffeine. The American Journal of Physiology study showed, in their small sample size, that women with a lower body mass index and a higher percentage of lean-muscle mass received a greater stimuli when consuming caffeine than the women who had a BMI in the obese range and possessed a larger percentage of body fat. The conclusion, the leaner the individual, the better and lengthier the thermogenic effect.
Like the results in these two studies and maybe thinking about stopping at your local coffee house on the way to the gym? If you are, you can be pretty sure that you'll be okay doing so. Caffeine is considered safe for most people when consumed in moderation, which Mayoclinic.org has defined as less than four cups per day. Consuming in excess of four cups of coffee on a given day can result in restless night's sleep, may bring on a mind-splitting headache, or possibly cause a heart to beat irregularly. Caffeine can also interfere with some medications and antibiotics.
Hope to see you on the treadmill next to me downing your cup of Joe. And, yes, if you are running next to me WE ARE RACING!
Thank you for inspiring me to write about what I love.
-Bell Gia
Nutrition and Fitness Expert
References:
Am J Clin Nutr. May 1990 vol. 51 no 5 759-767
Am J Physiology Oct 1995 269(4 Pt 1):#671-8
Mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition June 2016
No comments:
Post a Comment