See for yourself. Coffee has a lot of secret benefits, but this has to be the best one yet!
A new study conducted by the University of Illinois has discovered that consuming caffeine from coffee, tea, and other sources may help protect you from a large number of health problems you may get in a diet containing high amounts of sugar and fat.
During the study, the researchers experimented on lab rats and fed them a diet composed of 45-percent carbohydrates, 40-percent fat, and 15-percent protein. These same rats were also given caffeine equivalent to the amount humans would get from drinking four cups of coffee every day. The caffeine was sourced from a herbal tea called mate and from coffee.
Another set of rats were given a decaf version of the herbal tea notable for its high levels of flavonoids, phytochemicals, and amino acids. Despite the beneficial compounds, the caffeinated rats gained 22-percent less body fat and 16-percent less weight even though they were eating the same high-fat and high-sugar diet.
The researchers noted that the body mass from each group of rats ‘differed significantly.’ They concluded that both caffeine and the tea are ‘anti-obesity agents’ helping people avoid weight gain.
The study’s co-author Elvira Gonzalez de Mejia said this about their experiment:
“Considering the findings, mate tea and caffeine can be considered anti-obesity agents. 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.”
