Green Coffee Bean Extract: Coffee Benefits Without The Coffee?

Coffee is, on balance, very good for the health in moderation. We wrote about it here:

The Bitter Truth About Coffee (or is it?)

Some quick facts before moving on:

• Coffee is the world’s biggest source of antioxidants
• 65% reduced risk of Alzheimer’s for coffee-drinkers
• 67% reduced risk of type 2 diabetes for coffee-drinkers
• 43% reduced risk of liver cancer for coffee-drinkers
• 53% reduced suicide risk for coffee-drinkers

Those are some compelling statistics!

But what about the caffeine content?

Assuming one doesn’t have a caffeine sensitivity, caffeine is also healthy in moderation—but it is easy to accidentally become dependent on it, so it can be good to take a “tolerance break” once in a while, and then reintroduce it with more modest moderation:

Caffeine: Cognitive Enhancer Or Brain-Wrecker?

We also, for that matter, have discussed its impact on the gut:

Coffee & Your Gut ← surprise, it’s a positive impact

What if I don’t like coffee?

We suspect that, having seen the title of this article, you know what the answer’s going to be here:

Green coffee bean extract is the extract from green (i.e. unroasted) coffee beans. It has one or two advantages over drinking coffee:

1. For those who do not like drinking coffee, this supplement sidesteps that neatly
2. Roasting coffee beans destroys a lot (sometimes almost all; it depends on the temperature and duration) of their chlorogenic acid, a highly beneficial polyphenol; using unroasted (i.e. green) coffee beans avoids that

See: Role of roasting conditions in the level of chlorogenic acid content in coffee beans

All about GCE and CGA

That’s “green coffee extract” and “chlorogenic acid”, respectively, bearing in mind that the latter is found generously in the former.

As to what it does:

❝CGA is an important and biologically active dietary polyphenol, playing several important and therapeutic roles such as antioxidant activity, antibacterial, hepatoprotective, cardioprotective, anti-inflammatory, antipyretic, neuroprotective, anti-obesity, antiviral, anti-microbial, anti-hypertension, free radicals scavenger and a central nervous system (CNS) stimulator. Furthermore, CGA causes hepatoprotective effects.❞

👆 Those are the things we know for sure that it does. And it may do even more things:

❝In addition, it has been found that CGA could modulate lipid metabolism and glucose in both genetically and healthy metabolic related disorders. It is speculated that CGA can perform crucial roles in lipid and glucose metabolism regulation and thus help to treat many disorders such as hepatic steatosis, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and obesity as well.❞

Read in full: Chlorogenic acid (CGA): A pharmacological review and call for further research

About lipid metabolism…

• Green coffee extract supplementation significantly reduces serum total cholesterol levels.
• Green coffee extract supplementation significantly reduces serum LDL (“bad” cholesterol) levels.
• Increases in HDL (“good” cholesterol) after green coffee bean extract consumption are significant in green coffee bean extract dosages ≥400mg/day.

Source: The effects of green coffee bean extract supplementation on lipid profile in humans: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

About blood glucose and insulin…

• Green coffee extract supplementation significantly improved fasting blood sugar levels
• Green coffee extract supplementation at ≥400 mg/day significantly lowered postprandial insulin levels (that’s good)

Source: The influence of green coffee bean extract supplementation on blood glucose levels: A systematic review and dose–response meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Want to try some?

We don’t sell it, but here for your convenience is an example product on Amazon 😎

Enjoy!