Green Coffee Extract

Last Updated: September 28 2022

Green Coffee Extract is a concentrated source of dietary Chlorogenic Acid and is currently being used for heart health and fat loss as a supplement; it seems weakly to moderately effective on these parameters.

Green Coffee Extract is most often used for

Summary

Green Coffee extract is a supplement and/or food product that is derived from Green Coffee Beans. For all intents and purposes, it has similar chemical composition to coffee beans in general but has a much higher content of molecules known as Chlorogenic Acid; a term used to refer to molecules that have small phenolics bound to a Quinic acid group.

The Chlorogenic Acids in Green Coffee Extract are readily absorbed, and they themselves or their metabolites (such as ferulic acid) mediate many of the benefits of Green Coffee Extract. Supplementing Chlorogenic Acid should also, theoretically, confer much of the same benefits as Green Coffee Extract (and vice versa).

Oral ingestion of Green Coffee Extract may weakly reduce body weight in overweight and obese persons (mechanisms currently unknown, thought to be related to preventing carbohydrate uptake from the intestines after a meal) although the degree of weight reduction seems quite unreliable at this moment in time; studies in lean persons are nonexistent right now. A handful of studies suggest that 'blood health' can be improved via increase vasoreactivity and lowered blood pressure, which have been shown to benefit people with poor vascular function or high blood pressure; this may only be a bandaid effect (with one study noting that 2 weeks after cessation the beneficial changes were being normalized) and may be due to the ferulic acid metabolite.

Green Coffee Extract is indeed healthy, but for the benefits it is touted for it does not appear to be as potent as some other supplements.

What else is Green Coffee Extract known as?
Green Coffee Extract should not be confused with:
Dosage information

Studies using Green Coffee Extract (GCE) tend to be dosed based on their chlorogenic acid content, which in isolation are taken in the 120-300mg range. Based on this, recommended intakes of GCE would be approximately:

  • 1,200-3,000mg for a 10% chlorogenic acid supplement
  • 600-1,500mg for a 20% chlorogenic acid supplement
  • 240-600mg for a 50% chlorogenic acid supplement

The optimal dosage of both GCE and isolated chlorogenic acid is not known at this moment in time.

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References
1.^Farah A, Monteiro M, Donangelo CM, Lafay SChlorogenic acids from green coffee extract are highly bioavailable in humansJ Nutr.(2008 Dec)
3.^Suzuki A, Kagawa D, Ochiai R, Tokimitsu I, Saito IGreen coffee bean extract and its metabolites have a hypotensive effect in spontaneously hypertensive ratsHypertens Res.(2002 Jan)
5.^Farah A, de Paulis T, Trugo LC, Martin PREffect of roasting on the formation of chlorogenic acid lactones in coffeeJ Agric Food Chem.(2005 Mar 9)
7.^Watanabe T, Arai Y, Mitsui Y, Kusaura T, Okawa W, Kajihara Y, Saito IThe blood pressure-lowering effect and safety of chlorogenic acid from green coffee bean extract in essential hypertensionClin Exp Hypertens.(2006 Jul)
8.^Ochiai R, Jokura H, Suzuki A, Tokimitsu I, Ohishi M, Komai N, Rakugi H, Ogihara TGreen coffee bean extract improves human vasoreactivityHypertens Res.(2004 Oct)
10.^Shimoda H, Seki E, Aitani MInhibitory effect of green coffee bean extract on fat accumulation and body weight gain in miceBMC Complement Altern Med.(2006 Mar 17)
15.^Zuskin E, Kanceljak B, Skurić Z, Butković DBronchial reactivity in green coffee exposureBr J Ind Med.(1985 Jun)
16.^Manavski N, Peters U, Brettschneider R, Oldenburg M, Baur X, Bittner CCof a 1: identification, expression and immunoreactivity of the first coffee allergenInt Arch Allergy Immunol.(2012)
17.^Lehrer SB, Karr RM, Salvaggio JEAnalysis of green coffee bean and castor bean allergens using RAST inhibitionClin Allergy.(1981 Jul)