Does Green Coffee Bean Extract Really Work?

The widely popular Dr. Oz has recently been called into question over certain natural weight loss pills, which were advertised on his show to be effective fat burners.

More specifically, the green coffee bean extract is currently under intense media scrutiny after being the subject of a falsified clinical study.

Dr. Mehmet Oz, or better known as Dr. Oz, has come under fire for endorsing natural weight loss pills consisting of the ingredient  green coffee bean extract. This ingredient consists of a substance called chlorogenic acid, which many believe is a natural fat burner.

Green coffee beans are essentially unroasted coffee beans, getting their name from their unroasted color. The extract is popularly sold in natural weight loss pills, with several human studies suggesting that it can help reduce the level of carbohydrates the digestive tract absorbs.

This extract also purportedly also reduces blood sugar levels and insulin spikes, with animal studies indicating that it can help reduce fat absorption and encourage the fat burning hormone adiponectin. Even though these studies indicate positive effects for green coffee bean extract, this may be due to a change in diet or some other unknown mechanism.

While many hail chlorogenic acid for weight loss, most of it disappears when the coffee beans are roasted. Therefore green coffee bean extract became a popular supplement to sell for manufacturing companies, and became a beacon of hope for people who wanted to lose weight.

Overview of Natural Weight Loss Supplement Allegations

Dr. Oz called this natural fat burner a “miracle in a bottle” which would greatly help with weight loss.

These claims led him to testify before the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Insurance of the FTC regarding the efficiency of this product. During the same year, the FTC also filed an enforcement action against one of the green coffee bean extract manufacturers for allegedly falsifying a clinical study supporting the ingredient.

The study was published in a 2012 issue of the medical journal Diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome and Obesity: Targets and Therapy. The study claimed that green coffee bean extract could help people lose weight, without needing to exercise or follow any specific diet.

Recently, it been discovered that key data from the study may have been altered, including the participants’ weight recordings. This prompted Dr. Oz to conduct his own study, by having 100 women in his studio audience participate. Half of the women received the coffee extract while the other half received a placebo.

Results indicated the women who were prescribed the coffee extract had lost one pound more than the placebo group. The medical community and several members of Congress were not deterred, and continued their investigation.

Consumers who have purchased green coffee bean extract products may be eligible to join a class action suit against the manufacturing companies and promoters of the supplement.