Do you have skinny clothes hanging in the back of the closet that you want to wear? Do your knees hurt due to the excess weight you are carrying around? Join the crowd! There are over 97 million overweight/obese adult Americans whom are at higher risk of chronic diseases such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and cancer. If you are like most overweight Americans, you are looking for that miracle cure to knock off the pounds.
Obesity is a very expensive! Annually, Americans spend more than $40 billion dollars on weight loss. How many diet books do you own? How many times have you gone to Weight Watchers or picked up the latest diet food? Also, the typical obese person pays $1,429 a year more on health care. At the end of the day, less than 20 percent of all people successfully lose weight
Many people turn to supplements to jumpstart weight loss. There is an endless stream of weight loss miracle pills flooding the market. It doesn’t hurt to have Dr. Oz promote a product on his show either, which is how Green Coffee Bean Extract jumped to prominence.
Green Coffee Bean Extract is from the Coffea Fruit. The beans are raw and unroasted. In green coffee beans, there are naturally existing plant chemicals known as chlorogenic acids (CGA’s) that may promote weight loss by releasing fatty acids from fat cells and lowering the amount of fat-digesting enzymes.
Green coffee bean extract is available in pills (Svetol® and Nataurex®). It can also be in combination supplements under other names such as – Arabica Green Coffee Beans, Café Marchand, Café Verde, Café Vert, Coffea arabica, Coffea arnoldiana, Coffea bukobensis, Coffea canephora, Coffea liberica, Coffea robusta, Extrait de Café Vert, Extrait de Fève de Café Vert, Fèves de Café Vert, Fèves de Café Vert Arabica, Fèves de Café Vert Robusta, GCBE, GCE, Green Coffee Beans, Green Coffee Bean Extract, Green Coffee Extract, Green Coffee Powder, Poudre de Café Vert, Raw Coffee, Raw Coffee Extract, Robusta Green Coffee Bean.
It is important to know if you are taking green coffee bean extract because it may be dangerous. The research on it was poorly conducted with questionable quality of the studies. There was some weight loss, but the groups studied were small and short lived. The danger of green coffee bean extract lies in the CGA and in the caffeine that naturally exists in the beans. Side effects include:
- Worsening osteoporosis
Headache
Higher blood sugar in diabetes
Ringing in ears
Heart problems – racing heart, irregular heartbeat, higher blood pressure, elevated homocysteine levels, worsening of bleeding disorders, higher cholesterol
Increased breathing rate
Exposure to a Ochratoxin A, a kidney killer
Anxiousness, nervousness, agitation
Insomnia
Sour stomach, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, worsening of Irritable Bowel Syndrome symptoms
Higher eye pressure/worsening of glaucoma
If you choose to risk the side effects in order to lose a few pounds, know that green coffee bean extract can interfere with certain medications such as – Adenosine, alcohol, alendronate, Anticoagulants/Antiplatelet (think Coumadin, warfarin), diabetes and blood pressure medications, betaadrenergic agonists, cimetidine, clozapine, contraceptives, dipyridamole, disulfiram, ephedrine, estrogen, fluconazole, fluvoxamine, lithium, mexiletine, MAO inhibitors, pentobarital, phenylpropanolamine, quinolone antiobiotics, riluzole, stimulants, terbinafine, theophylline and verapamil.
The negative impact of green coffee bean extract can also be seen with other supplements such as: Bitter orange, caffeine containing supplements/foods, calcium, cyclodextrin, ephedra (Ma Huang), alpha-lipoic acid, bitter melon, chromium, devil’s claw, fenugreek, garlic, guar gum, horse chestnut, panax, ginseng, psyllium, andrographis, casein peptides, cat’s claw, Coenzyme Q10, fish oil, L-arginine, lycium, stinging nettle, theanine, iron and magnesium.
If you have pre-existing health conditions green coffee bean extract can affect those results. Accurate values may not be possible if you have these tests- 5-Hydroxyindoleacetic acid, bleeding time, catecholamines, creatine, dipridamole thallium imaging, glucose, homocysteine, lactate, neuroblastoma tests, pharmacological stress tests, pheochromocytoma tests, pulmonary function tests, theophylline, urate, urinary calcium, vanillylmandelic acid and whole blood fibronolysis time.
Green coffee bean extract is not recommended for pregnant or nursing mothers. If you are considering using green coffee beans regardless, keep the dose to 80-200 milligrams/day for less than 12 weeks. It may jump start the weight loss, but the pounds comes back. Combine that fact with the side effects and interactions and green coffee bean extract becomes scary.
What is the alternative? Throw out the quick fix pills and choose instead to eat food. Follow a healthy eating plan for a lifetime, one that includes all food groups. Fill your plate with moderate amounts of lean protein, low fat dairy, fruit, vegetables, high fiber grains and heart healthy fats. These foods are nutrient rich, taste good and have no side effects.
Jennifer Giffune, R.D., L.D.N. is a freelance author, professional speaker and nutrition counselor. On the last Wednesday of each month, Jennifer can be heard on 89.5 WSKB radio on the “Wake up Wednesday Morning” Show. To make an appointment with Jennifer at Mercy Medical Group, call 786-1500.
