Drinking coffee may stimulate the body’s own fat-fighting defences, which could be the key to tackling obesity and diabetes, says a study published in the journal Scientific Reports .
The study is one of the first to be carried out in humans to find components which could have a direct effect on ‘brown fat’ functions, which plays a key role in how quickly we can burn calories as energy.
Initially only attributed to babies and hibernating mammals, it was discovered in recent years that adults can have brown fat too.
“We need to ascertain if caffeine is acting as the stimulus or if there’s another component helping with the activation of brown fat,” said Professor Michael Symonds, from the University of Nottingham.
“... It could potentially be used as part of a weight management regime or as part of glucose regulation programme to help prevent diabetes,” he said.