10 Green Coffee Bean Extract Benefits: The Science
During my time behind the counter, I developed a deep appreciation for roast profiles. I love how the roasting process combines art and science to develop flavor, body, and more.
Now, my current obsession is how drinking coffee can improve health. Turns out, roast has something to do with this topic.
If you’re like me, you know firsthand the pros and cons of caffeine consumption. But it goes beyond energy levels.
Today let’s look at some green coffee bean extract benefits. Unroasted beans can improve health in ways that roasted beans cannot.
What Is Green Coffee Bean Extract Good For?
Green coffee bean extract has a wide variety of potential health benefits. This article will reference a few studies to discuss these benefits in more depth.
First we need to consider two coffee polyphenols: caffeine and chlorogenic acid.
Polyphenols are naturally-occurring organic compounds. They act as reducing agents, preventing stress and inflammation in the body. Many berries, nuts, seeds, and other foods contain these compounds.
Researchers continue to investigate benefits of the chlorogenic compound. According to researchers, it can lower blood pressure and sugar and assist in weight loss. In other research, it has even shown positive indications in the prevention of cardiovascular disease.
But the roasting process reduces chlorogenic acid content. Want to enjoy the benefits of this polyphenol? Then you need to drink the extract before roasting the coffee bean.
We’ll talk about taste differences another day. Green coffee bean extract can also improve skin health, hair loss, and even mood.
Drinking green coffee is safe for healthy adults. If you experience adverse reactions to caffeine content, heads up. Avoid excess intake of green coffee.
10 Benefits of Green Coffee Bean Extract
1. May Lower Blood Pressure
Consuming green coffee bean extract may reduce blood pressure.
How? The key to all green coffee bean extract health benefits. Chlorogenic acid.
This coffee compound influences enzyme activity. As a result, it can reduce the amount of the stress hormone cortisol.
High blood pressure strains a body’s blood vessels, heart, and other organs. But according to researchers taking 500 mg of chlorogenic acid per day could decrease these risks.
Lowering blood pressure is especially important for individuals with hypertension and obesity. These factors increase the risk of diabetes, stroke, kidney or heart disease.
2. May Assist In Weight Loss
Drinking coffee might help you lose weight. Sounds too good to be true, right?
Scientists have long understood that caffeine reduces appetite. But losing weight isn’t as simple as reducing calorie intake. What your body does with those calories is also important.
Whether you’re a lab rat or a gym rat, it’s intuitive that caffeine aids exercise. It increases energy levels and focus for sustained workouts.
Caffeine can also stimulate thermogenesis. (This metabolic process helps your body burn calories.)
Another benefit? Green coffee bean extract regulates adipogenesis, or fat accumulation. So adding this extract to your diet might be a natural way to promote weight loss.
3. May Lower Your Blood Sugar
High blood sugar can inhibit the supply of blood to vital organs. This disruption contributes to vision and nerve problems. It can also cause heart disease, kidney disease, and strokes.
According to scientists, in doses greater than 400 mg per day, green coffee beans can assist in stabilizing blood sugar levels.
It can also have hypoglycemic effects. Chlorogenic acid contributes to increased insulin sensitivity.
These traits reduce a body’s risk of developing diabetes or pre-diabetes.
Adding green coffee bean extract to your diet can’t replace healthy eating habits. But in conjunction, this dietary regime may help you control your blood sugar.
4. May Reduce Cholesterol Levels
High cholesterol levels damage heart health. Green coffee bean extract might help reduce cholesterol levels. This effect is thanks to its interaction with lipid profiles.
The extract from green coffee beans has reduced plasma cholesterol in lab rats by 44%. Although further research is necessary, there’s reason to be hopeful.
A reduction in cholesterol levels is associated with a reduced risk of heart attacks and strokes.
5. Can Give You Energy
Green coffee beans contain less caffeine than roasted coffee beans. This is good news if you need a mild energy boost but don’t enjoy the jittery crash from a regular cup of coffee.
But green coffee bean extract offers more than approachable caffeine levels.
Chlorogenic acid helps boost metabolism. And a boosted metabolism increases your body’s ability to absorb energy from food.
6. May Improve Skin
Green coffee bean extract might reduce skin dryness caused by mild xerosis.
Chlorogenic acid hydrates and repairs skin – in some cases curing dermatitis. It also aids blood flow, improving the time it takes for your body to heal sores.
But skin health is about more than appearance. Green coffee beans contain a lipid fraction that absorbs carcinogenic UV radiation.
So you can do more than drink these coffee compounds. The cosmetic industry often uses the oil for topical applications.
7. Has Antioxidant Properties
Green coffee beans enhance cellular antioxidant mechanisms. Antioxidants benefit the body by protecting cells against free radicals.
Free radicals damage cells and cause a variety of degenerative diseases. In some cases, roasting coffee can increase free radical scavenging activity. But green coffee bean extract still contains useful antioxidant properties.
Forget roasting, says one study. Fermenting the extract increased antioxidant activity by 115.7%. Food and cosmetic industries might soon use this biotransformation to maximize antioxidant compounds.
8. Anti-Tumor Properties
Once again, chlorogenic acid comes to the rescue. This time, the coffee compound has shown positive indications to combat breast tumors as well as brain, lung, and colon cancer cells.
One study suggests that green coffee bean prevent breast cancer cells from spreading. It also has cytotoxic effects on these cells.
The extract from green coffee beans can even induce cell death in various cancer cell lines.
The necessary research continues. But scientists are optimistic. This extract could serve as a safe bioactive ingredient in cancer prevention.
9. It May Improve Mood
For some sippers, caffeine causes anxiety and agitation. But green coffee bean extract can actually benefit mental health.
In small amounts, caffeine enhances dopamine signaling without causing adverse effects. Dopamine acts has your body’s reward system, improving mood, motivation, and more.
Green coffee beans help block the reabsorption of dopamine. This function increases the amount of time dopamine stays in your system.
Chlorogenic acid can also positively influence brain tissue in older adults. These neuroprotective effects include reducing headaches and lowering mental fatigue.
10. May Have Anti-Aging Properties
Who needs the fountain of youth when we’ve got coffee? Green coffee bean extract may stimulate anti-aging activity for hair and skin cells.
Chlorogenic acid has also shown promise in inhibiting collagenase. Aka the process that causes wrinkles, sagging, and skin laxity.
It can also stimulate hair growth while preventing hair loss and hair thinning.
Current studies have focused on in vitro application. But scientists now recommend using extract from the green coffee bean in cosmeceuticals.
Keep an eye out – soon you might find a new active ingredient in personal skin and hair care products.
