New research from the University of Illinois implies that caffeine may trigger some of the negative impacts of an obesogenic diet by decreasing the storage of lipids in fat cells and restricting weight gain and the creation of triglycerides.
The study was performed on rats, and it found that the animals that consumed the caffeine derived from mate tea gained 16 percent less weight and gathered 22 less body fat than rats that ate decaffeinated mate tea. The impacts were similar with either artificial caffeine and that taken from coffee.
Consuming Caffeine Means Less Body Fat
Mate tea is an herbal drink abundant in phytochemicals, flavonoids, and amino acids that is drank as a stimulant for people in southeastern Latin American countries. The quantity of caffeine per serving in a mate tea differs from 65 to 130 milligrams, in comparison to 30 to 300 milligrams of caffeine per serving found in a cup of brewed coffee, as per the research.
For a period of four weeks, the animals consumed a diet that included 40 percent fat, 4 percent carbohydrate, and 15 percent protein. They also ingested one of the types of caffeine in quantity similar to that of a human who consumes four cups of coffee per day.
When the four-week period ended, the percentage of lean body mass in the different bunches of rats varied significantly. The animals that ingested caffeine from mate tea, coffee, or artificial sources gained less body fat than rats in the other placements.
The research, published in the Journal of Functional Foods, sustains an increasing amount of studies that suggest mate tea may help prevent obesity, while it also provides other good health effects linked with the phenolic compositions, vitamins, flavonoids it offers.
“Considering the findings, mate tea and caffeine can be considered anti-obesity agents,” said Elvira Gonzalez de Mejia, a co-author of the study and director of the division of nutritional sciences at the University of Illinois.
“The results of this research could be scaled to humans to understand the roles of mate tea and caffeine as potential strategies to prevent overweight and obesity, as well as the subsequent metabolic disorders associated with these conditions.”
All Types of Caffeine Prevents Obesity
In the lab animals, the accrual of lipids in the adipocytes was largely linked with greater body weight gain and increased body fat, the paper says.
To estimate the system of action, the researchers conducted cell culture examinations in which they subjected adipose cells from mice to artificial caffeine or the coffee, as well as the mate caffeine extracts. They discovered that irrelevant to its source, the caffeine reduced the aggregation of lipids in adipose cells by 20 percent to 41 percent.
The team also monitored the expression of numerous genes linked with obesity and lipid metabolism, such as the fatty acid synthase gene (Fasn), an enzyme element included in the synthesis of fatty acids from glucose, and the lipoprotein lipase gene (Lpl), which represents an enzyme that dissociates triglycerides.
“The consumption of caffeine from mate or from other sources alleviated the negative impact of a high-fat, high-sucrose diet on body composition due to the modulation of certain lipogenic enzymes in both adipose tissue and the liver,” de Mejia said. “The decreased expression of Fasn and Lpl brought about lower synthesis and accumulation of triglycerides in the adipose tissue.”
