Does Slimming Coffee Really Work?

Ads for “slimming coffee” sound too good to be true. Of course when something sounds too good to be true, it almost always is. So we decided to click a recent ad for this product to see where it would go. We assumed that we’d see Dr. Oz mentioned – as his name is synonymous with the next fly-by-night miracle pill. We assumed we’d see countless glowing testimonials. We assumed we’d see a money back guarantee, along with studies quoted to prove the effectiveness of the product. Unfortunately we were 100% correct on all counts.

As it turns out, these “slimming coffees” are usually just green coffee pills – not brewed coffee. In some cases, we’ll read about this “slimming coffee” described as pure green coffee bean extract. A common brand name is MoyoJava, found at weightlossjava.com. One particular website, evolution-slimming.com, shamelessly promotes green coffee, acai, African mango, and other “miracle” pills together.

That particular website quotes FoxNews:

According to Fox News, 22nd March 2012:

One clinical study published in the scientific French review Phytothérapie demonstrated fat-reducing effects of a green (non-roasted) coffee bean extract.

One group of volunteers was given 400mg of a decaffeinated green coffee extract daily, and the second group received a placebo.

After 60 days of supplementation, participants who received the green coffee extract had lost 5.7 percent of their initial weight.

Before it is roasted, coffee is rich in chlogenic acid. Asian scientists found out that if a person consumes a certain amount of green coffee daily before meals they could lose up to 30% of their body fat and the appearance of cellulite.

This chlogenic acid and the natural caffeine working together are what helps a person lose weight and diminish the look of cellulite.

You can read the full Fox story here. The most immediate red flag that should jump out at you is that is states “one study…” ONE study is the basis of their claims. It should be noted that the author of the full article is actually generalizing results based on all types of coffee. He lumps black coffee, espresso, and green coffee bean pills together. In other words, there’s nothing special about an expensive green coffee bean over a cheap cup of java.

But let’s continue. The website further states:

Green coffee will give you energy but never make you feel jittery.

May help reduce the appearance of cellulite

Can provide energy without jitters

Completely safe, natural supplement

High quality product with no known side effects

The issue here is that they are promoting green coffee because of chlorogenic acids (which they don’t even spell correctly). This chemical is present in many different foods, such peaches and prunes – all all types of coffee. Their citations are of studies that were actually focused on “regular” coffee, but the marketers cherry-pick the results to present them to look like those studies were focused solely on green coffee.

And to rebut their claim of no known side effects, there are studies that claim side effects of high doses of chlorogenic acid, such as this one.

The antioxidants in coffee beans number in the hundreds and increase, exponentially, when the beans are roasted.

Bottom Line

You can pay $30 for a bottle of green coffee pills that probably won’t do any more good for you than the $10 can of Folgers in your kitchen. And it may contain unlawful ingredients, as we learned recently from Leisure 18 Slimming Coffee that was singled out by the FDA in an issued warning.

Pay particular attention to the FDA’s words of wisdom attached to the slimming coffee warning:

This notification is to inform the public of a growing trend of products marketed as dietary supplements or conventional foods with hidden drugs and chemicals.  These products are typically promoted for sexual enhancement, weight loss, and body building, and are often represented as being “all natural.”  FDA is unable to test and identify all products marketed as dietary supplements that have potentially harmful hidden ingredients.  Consumers should exercise caution before purchasing any product in the above categories.

10/13/2012 Update:
We spotted another slimming coffee ad in our junk mail. This ad used one of the same before and after photos that was circulated back in 2009 with the acai/cleanse scam trend. Today’s spam was from SlimBlast and linked to betterlifestylechronicle.com, which oddly enough doesn’t sell a product called “SlimBlast” but instead Pure Green Coffee.