Coffee Can Help Prevent Weight Gain, Study Says It's Nature's Laxative

Your morning cup of java might actually help you maintain a healthy weight. So says a study from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. This is because coffee reduces how your body stores lipids in fatty cells, thereby helping to control weight gain. So, this year, instead of subsisting on salads, make it your New Year’s resolution to drink more coffee.

Here’s the science: over a four-week period, researchers studied rats that were given caffeine extract and fed a diet made up of 40 percent fat, 35 percent carbs, and 15 percent protein. They found that those who ingested more caffeine gained 16 percent less weight and gained 22 percent less body fat than those who got extract without caffeine. Technically, the caffeine came from mate tea and not coffee, but that’s neither here nor there. All we care about is the fact that the more coffee we drink, the less likely we’ll gain weight. (Thanks to java’s laxative effect, we’d guess.)

So, to sum it up, drink four cups of coffee every day as your New Year’s resolution, eat a high-fat diet, and you’re sure to keep weight off in 2020. At least that’s what it seems like to us. Whether or not we truly understand how research works is for academics to digest. In honor of our favorite morning beverage, here are a few GIFs celebrating the greatness of coffee.