Green coffee beans show potential for losing weight..

In  a  study  presented,  at  the  American  Chemical  Society’s  spring     national meeting in San Diego, 16 over weight young adults took, by turns, a low dose of green coffee bean extract, a high  dose  of  the supplement, and a placebo. Though the study was small, the results were striking: Subjects lost an average of 17.5 pounds in 22 weeks and reduced their overall body weight by 10.5%.If green coffee extract were a medication seeking approval from the Food and Drug Administration, these results would make it a viable candidate — more than 35% of subjects lost more than 5% of their body weight, and weight loss appeared to be greater while subjects were taking the pills than when they were on the placebo.

Joe Vinson, the University of Scranton chemist who conducted the pilot study, said the findings should pave the way for more rigorous research on coffee bean extract’s effects. A larger trial involving 60 people is being planned.Vinson, whose research focuses on plant polyphenols and their effects on human health, said it appears that green coffee bean extract may work by reducing the absorption of fat and glucose in the gut; it may also reduce insulin levels, which would improve metabolic function. There were no signs of ill effects on any subjects, Vinson reported.

The study used a “cross-over” design, which allowed each subject to serve as his or her own comparison group. For six weeks, volunteers swallowed capsules three times a day, ingesting either 700 or 1,050 milligrams of green coffee extract a day or taking a placebo. After a two-week break, they moved, round-robin style, to another arm of the trial.Subjects did not change their calorie intake over the course of the trial. But the more extract they consumed, the more weight and fat they lost. Altogether, they reduced their body fat by 16%, on average.Of the 16 volunteers, six wound up with a body mass index in the healthful range.One downside is that the extract is “extremely bitter.” It would be difficult to take without a lot of water, Vinson reported.....

Ref : Detailed article read at

I found the following link more informative...

 http://greencoffeebeanreviews.com/

Four cups of coffee a day shown to protect heart muscle

In continuation of my update on coffee

A new study has shown that drinking four cups of coffee a day can protect against heart muscle damage through the effect of caffeine on a protein called p27

Caffeine intake has been associated with a lower risk of several chronic metabolic diseases such as cardiovascular disease (stroke and ischemic heart disease), and type II diabetes.

The current study, which was carried out at Heinrich-Heine-University and the IUF-Leibniz Research Institute for Environmental Medicine in Duesseldorf, Germany, shows that caffeine, at a concentration equivalent to that in four cups of coffee, works to enhance the mitochondrial entry of a protein called p27.

P27 is protein that promotes effective mitochondrial function. It protects the cells of the heart and blood vessels against damage. The study was recently published in the open access journal PLOS Biology.

Prior research by the same scientists revealed that caffeine improves the function of endothelial cells that line the cardiovascular system. This was seen to occur at normal, safe doses and was related to mitochondria.

Following the study, the scientists focused on the p27 protein, known better as a cell cycle inhibitor, and found that it was present within the mitochondria of all major cell-types in the heart.

The p27 protein prevents cell death in cardiac muscle cells, encourages endothelial cells to migrate, and promotes the maturation of fibroblasts into contractile cells. These processes are vital components of cardiac muscle repair following a heart attack.

Caffeine promotes this repair by facilitating the first step, namely, the entry of p27 protein into the mitochondria, at physiologic levels. This protective effect against heart damage is present in elderly, obese and prediabetic mice.

Our results indicate a new mode of action for caffeine, one that promotes protection and repair of heart muscle through the action of mitochondrial p27. These results should lead to better strategies for protecting heart muscle from damage, including consideration of coffee consumption or caffeine as an additional dietary factor in the elderly population.”

Dr. Judith Haendeler, Heinrich-Heine-University

Ref : https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-06/p-cff061418.php

Maillard reaction is the principle contributor to the antioxidant capacity of coffee brews ......

Food scientists at the University of British Columbia have been able to pinpoint more of the complex chemistry behind coffee's much touted antioxidant benefits, tracing valuable compounds to the roasting process.  Yazheng Liu and Prof. David Kitts found that the prevailing antioxidants present in dark roasted coffee brew extracts result from the green beans being browned under high temperatures.

Liu and Kitts analyzed the complex mixture of chemical compounds produced during the bean's browning process, called the "Maillard reaction (a chemical reaction between an amino acid and a reducing sugar, usually requiring heat). The term refers to the work by French chemist Louis-Camille Maillard who in the 1900s looked at how heat affects the carbohydrates, sugars and proteins in food, such as when grilling steaks or toasting bread. Previous studies suggested that antioxidants in coffee could be traced to caffeine or the chlorogenic acid (see structures above and below respectively)  found in green coffee beans, but the present results clearly show that the Maillard reaction is the main source of antioxidants claims the researchers.  Researchers conclude that that coffee beans lose 90 per cent of their chlorogenic acid during the roasting process, LFS food science professor and director of the Food, Nutrition and Health program.

Ref : Yazheng Liu and David D. Kitt, Food Research International.

Method developed to reduce acrylamide (carcinogen) formation during production of potatoes and coffee...

A small research-based Norwegian company has developed a method to reduce the formation of the carcinogenic compound acrylamide during industrial production of potatoes and coffee. International food giants are paying attention. In 2002 Swedish researchers found that the carcinogenic compound acrylamide was present in many foods - a discovery that grabbed international headlines and frightened consumers and food safety authorities around the world. What these production foods had in common was high-temperature cooking which formed a crust or browning reaction. The acrylamide issue has had dramatic consequences for the manufacturers involved.

Since then a great deal of research has been focused on acrylamide. The compound has been found in bread, some types of crackers and sweet biscuits, deep-fried potato products and coffee. Research has also been carried out on the compound's effects on humans and on production methods that can reduce or remove acrylamide from our foods.

Norwegian Hans Blom  and his research team found a method that limits the formation of acrylamide during the production of potato products and coffee. It was the patent for this method that provided the springboard for the company Zeracryl.

"Our method is based on lactic acid fermentation," explains Dr Blom. "Acrylamide is formed as a reaction between the amino acid asparagine and simple sugars such as glucose and fructose. Put simply, the lactic acid bacteria remove these compounds and inhibit the formation of acrylamide."

The team's ongoing experiments show that 10 to 15 minutes' immersion in lactic acid bacteria culture before cooking reduces acrylamide formation in the final product by roughly 90 per cent.

Zeracryl will continue its work in the research project Lactic acid fermentation as a tool to reduce formation of acrylamide in fried potato products and roasted coffee in cooperation with the international food conglomerate Nestlé, the Norwegian producers of potato products Hoff AS and Maarud, and the research institute Nofima. The project is supported by the Research Council of Norway's Food Programme and is scheduled to run until 2012...

Ref 1. http://www.angelfire.com/az/sthurston/acrylamides_cancer_causing.html
      2. Zeracryl 

Patients with chronic hepatitis C can benefit by drinking coffee

Patients with chronic hepatitis C and advanced liver disease who drink three or more cups of coffee per day have a 53% lower risk of liver disease progression than non-coffee drinkers according to a new study. The study found that patients with hepatitis C-related bridging fibrosis or cirrhosis who did not respond to standard disease treatment benefited from increased coffee intake. An effect on liver disease was not observed in patients who drank black or green tea.

Read......

Patients with chronic hepatitis C can benefit by drinking coffee

Chemical compound in coffee may help prevent damaging effects of obesity

In continuation of my update on chlorogenic acid

Researchers at the University of Georgia have discovered that a chemical compound commonly found in coffee may help prevent some of the damaging effects of obesity.

In a paper published recently in Pharmaceutical Research, scientists found that chlorogenic acid, or CGA, significantly reduced insulin resistance and accumulation of fat in the livers of mice who were fed a high-fat diet.

"Previous studies have shown that coffee consumption may lower the risk for chronic diseases like Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease," said Yongjie Ma, a postdoctoral research associate in UGA's College of Pharmacy and lead author of the paper. "Our study expands on this research by looking at the benefits associated with this specific compound, which is found in great abundance in coffee, but also in other fruits and vegetables like apples, pears, tomatoes and blueberries."

During the past 20 years, there has been a dramatic increase in obesity in the United States. More than one-third of U.S. adults and approximately 17 percent of children are obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the annual medical cost of obesity is more than $147 billion.

Aside from weight gain, two common side effects of obesity are increased insulin resistance and the accumulation of fat in the liver. Left untreated, these disorders can lead to diabetes and poor liver function.

To test the therapeutic effects of CGA, researchers fed a group of mice a high-fat diet for 15 weeks while also injecting them with a CGA solution twice per week.

Chemical compound in coffee may help prevent damaging effects of obesity

New evidence that drinking coffee may reduce the risk of diabetes

In continuation of my update on benefits of coffee....

New evidence that drinking coffee may reduce the risk of diabetes

Coffee, Wine Good for Healthy Gut, Sodas May Be Bad

The food you eat and the medicines you take can alter your gut bacteria in ways that either help or harm your health, two new studies suggest.

Foods like fruits, vegetables, coffee, tea, wine, yogurt and buttermilk can increase the diversity of bacteria in a person's intestines. And that diversity can help ward off illness, said Dr. Jingyuan Fu, senior author of one of the studies.

"It is believed that higher diversity and richness [in gut bacteria] is beneficial," explained Fu. She is an associate professor of genetics at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands.

On the other hand, foods containing loads of simple carbohydrates appear to reduce bacterial diversity in the gut, Fu and colleagues found. These include high-fat whole milk and sugar-sweetened soda.

In addition, medications can also play a part in the makeup of your gut bacteria. Antibiotics, the diabetes drug metformin and antacids can cut down on gut bacterial diversity, the researchers found. Smoking and heart attacks also can have a negative effect, the team said.

Each person's intestines contain trillions of microorganisms, which doctors refer to as the "gut microbiome," said Dr. David Johnson. He is chief of gastroenterology at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, Va., and a past president of the American College of Gastroenterology.

The gut microbiome plays an essential but little-understood role in human health, said Johnson, who was not involved with the new studies.

"It's the largest immune system in the body," Johnson explained. "These bacteria have a very dramatic and prominent role in determining health and disease."

To study the effect of lifestyle on the gut microbiome, Fu and her colleagues collected stool samples from more than 1,100 people living in the northern Netherlands.

The samples were used to analyze the DNA of the bacteria and other organisms that live in the gut. In addition to stools, the study collected information on the participants' diets, medicine use and health.

In the second study, researchers with the Flemish Gut Flora Project performed a similar analysis on stool samples taken from 5,000 volunteers in Belgium.

Both studies concluded that diet has a profound effect on the diversity of gut bacteria, although, Fu said, the "underlying theories of these dietary factors remain largely unknown."

Johnson added that medicines can have the same effect, and antibiotics actually can kill off some important strains of gut bacteria. "One dose of an antibiotic may disrupt your gut bacteria for a year," he said.

Both sets of researchers emphasized that their studies only help explain a fraction of gut bacteria variation -- roughly 18 percent for the Netherlands study, and about 7 percent for the Flemish study.

However, the findings from the two groups overlapped about 80 percent of the time, indicating that they are on the right track, the researchers said.

The Belgian researchers estimated that over 40,000 human samples will be needed to capture a complete picture of gut bacteria diversity.

Johnson noted that other research has shown that poor sleep, obesity, diabetes and the use of artificial sweeteners also can interfere with gut bacteria.

"The general rule is a balanced diet with high fiber and low carbs tends to drive a better gut health overall," he said.

According to Fu, once researchers have a clearer understanding of the gut microbiome and its effects on health, doctors could be able to help prevent or heal illness by reading or influencing the bacteria within people's bodies.

"The personalized microbiome may assist in personalized nutrition, personalized medicine, disease risk stratification and treatment decision-making," she said.

Both studies were published in the April 29 issue of the journal Science.

Coffee, Wine Good for Healthy Gut, Sodas May Be Bad  

Caffeine's effect on the brain's adenosine receptors visualized for the first time

In continuation on my update on coffee

Molecular imaging with positron emission tomography (PET) has enabled scientists for the first time to visualize binding sites of caffeine in the living human brain to explore possible positive and negative effects of caffeine consumption. According to research published in the November issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine, PET imaging with F-18-8-cyclopentyl-3-(3-fluoropropyl)-1-propylxanthine (F-18-CPFPX) shows that repeated intake of caffeinated beverages throughout a day results in up to 50 percent occupancy of the brain's A₁adenosine receptors.

"There is substantial evidence that caffeine is protective against neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson's or Alzheimer's disease," noted Elmenhorst. "Several investigations show that moderate coffee consumption of 3 to 5 cups per day at mid-life is linked to a reduced risk of dementia in late life. The present study provides evidence that typical caffeine doses result in a high A₁ adenosine receptor occupancy and supports the view that the A₁ adenosine receptor deserves broader attention in the context of neurodegenerative disorders." 

Caffeine's effect on the brain's adenosine receptors visualized for the first time

Coffee reduces prostate cancer risk

Coffee reduces prostate cancer risk

Caffeine consumption may help kidney disease patients live longer

In continuation of my update on caffeine..

Caffeine consumption may prolong the lives in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), according to a study that will be presented at ASN Kidney Week 2017 October 31-November 5 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, LA.  

Coffee consumption has been linked to a longer life in the general population. To see if this holds true for individuals with CKD, Miguel Bigotte Vieira, MD (Centro Hospitalar Lisboa Norte, in Portugal), and his colleagues examined the association of caffeine consumption with mortality among 2328 patients with CKD in a prospective US cohort, using the continuous National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey(NHANES) 1999-2010.

The team found a dose-dependent inverse association between caffeine and all-cause mortality. Compared with those in the lowest quartile of caffeine consumption, those in the second, third, and highest quartiles had 12%, 22%, and 24% lower risks of dying.

"Our study showed a dose-dependent protective effect of caffeine consumption on mortality among patients with CKD. This association was independent of potential confounders including age, gender, race, annual family income, education level, estimated GFR, albumin/creatinine ratio, hypertension, smoking status, dyslipidemia, body mass index, previous cardiovascular events and diet: consumption of alcohol, carbohydrates, polyunsaturated fatty acids, and fibers," said Dr. Bigotte Vieira. 

"These results suggest that advising patients with CKD to drink more caffeine may reduce their mortality. This would represent a simple, clinically beneficial, and inexpensive option, though this benefit should ideally be confirmed in a randomized clinical trial." Dr. Bigotte Vieira stressed that this observational study cannot prove thatcaffeine reduces the risk of death in patients with CKD, but onlysuggests the possibility of such a protective effect.

Caffeine consumption may help kidney disease patients live longer

Caffeine-based compound with small amount of gold could be used as anticancer agent

The side effects of ingesting too much caffeine - restlessness, increased heart rate, having trouble sleeping - are well known, but recent research has shown that the stimulant also has a good side. It can kill cancer cells. Now, researchers report in the ACS journal Inorganic Chemistry that combining a caffeine-based compound with a small amount of gold could someday be used as an anticancer agent.

Angela Casini, Michel Picquet and colleagues note that caffeine and certain caffeine-based compounds have recently been in the spotlight as possible anticancer treatments. But drinking gallons of coffee, sodas and energy drinks isn't the solution. And the regular caffeine in these drinks would start to have negative effects on healthy cells, too, at the levels necessary to kill cancerous ones. Gold also can wipe out cancer cells, but, like caffeine, it can harm healthy cells. So, the research team put the two together into certain configurations to see whether the new caffeine-based gold compounds could selectively stop cancer cells from growing without hurting other cells.

They made a series of seven new compounds, called caffeine-based gold (I) N-heterocyclic carbenes, in the laboratory and studied them. The scientists found that, at certain concentrations, one of the compounds of the series selectively killed human ovarian cancer cells without harming healthy cells. In addition, the compound targeted a type of DNA architecture, called "G-quadruplex," that is associated with cancer.

Ref : http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ic403011h?prevSearch=Angela%2BCasini&searchHistoryKey=

Caffeine-based compound with small amount of gold could be used as anticancer agent

Saccharin could potentially lead to development of drugs for difficult-to-treat cancers

Saccharin, the artificial sweetener that is the main ingredient in Sweet 'N Low®, Sweet Twin® and Necta®, could do far more than just keep our waistlines trim. According to new research, this popular sugar substitute could potentially lead to the development of drugs capable of combating aggressive, difficult-to-treat cancers with fewer side effects.

The finding will be presented today at the 249th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world's largest scientific society. The meeting features nearly 11,000 reports on new advances in science and other topics. It is being held here through Thursday.

"It never ceases to amaze me how a simple molecule, such as saccharin — something many people put in their coffee everyday — may have untapped uses, including as a possible lead compound to target aggressive cancers," says Robert McKenna, Ph.D., who is at the University of Florida. "This result opens up the potential to develop a novel anti-cancer drug that is derived from a common condiment that could have a lasting impact on treating several cancers."

The new work examines how saccharin binds to and deactivates carbonic anhydrase IX, a protein found in some very aggressive cancers. It is one of many driving factors in the growth and spread of such cancers in the breast, lung, liver, kidney, pancreas and brain. Carbonic anhydrase IX helps regulate pH in and around cancer cells, allowing tumors to thrive and potentially metastasize to other parts of the body. Because of this finding, the researchers wanted to develop saccharin-based drug candidates that could slow the growth of these cancers and potentially make them less resistant to chemo or radiation therapies.

Except for in the gastrointestinal tract, carbonic anhydrase IX is normally not found in healthy human cells. According to McKenna, this makes it a prime target for anti-cancer drugs that would cause little or no side effects to healthy tissue surrounding the tumor.

--------------------------------------------------

In earlier work, scientists from a group led by Claudiu T. Supuran, Ph.D., at the University of Florence, Italy, discovered that saccharin inhibits the actions of carbonic anhydrase IX, but not the 14 other carbonic anhydrase proteins that are vital to our survival. Building on this finding, a team led by Sally-Ann Poulsen, Ph.D., at Griffith University, Australia, created a compound in which a molecule of glucose was chemically linked to saccharin. This small change had big effects. Not only did it reduce the amount of saccharin needed to inhibit carbonic anhydrase IX, the compound was 1,000 times more likely to bind to the enzyme than saccharin.

Using X-ray crystallography, McKenna and his students Jenna Driscoll and Brian Mahon have taken this work a step further by determining how saccharin binds to carbonic anhydrase IX, and how it or other saccharin-based compounds might be tweaked to enhance this binding and boost its anti-cancer treatment potential.

Saccharin could potentially lead to development of drugs for difficult-to-treat cancers

Kratom Seems Safe for Pain, Anxiety, Opioid Withdrawal

We know that, Mitragyna speciosa (commonly known as kratom is a tropical evergreen tree in the coffee family native to Southeast Asia. It is indigenous to Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, and Papua New Guinea, where it has been used in traditional medicines since at least the nineteenth century. Kratom has opioid properties and some stimulant-like effects.

Kratom is used for symptoms of pain, anxiety, depression, and opioid withdrawal, and serious adverse events are uncommon, according to a the results of a survey published online Feb. 3 in Drug and Alcohol Dependence.

Albert Garcia-Romeu, Ph.D., from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, and colleagues conducted a cross-sectional online survey in 2017 involving 2,798 kratom users.

The researchers found that kratom was mainly taken orally in doses of 1 to 3 g (49 percent) and was most commonly used daily (59 percent). Kratom was used for pain, anxiety, and depression (91, 67, and 65 percent, respectively); effectiveness was highly rated. Overall, 41 percent (1,144 individuals) used kratom to stop or reduce prescription or illicit opioid use, with reports of decreased opioid withdrawal and craving in relation to use; continuous abstinence from opioids for more than one year was attributed to kratom use by 411 individuals. Adverse effects of kratom were reported by about one-third of respondents; these adverse effects were mainly rated as mild in severity and lasted ≤24 hours. Only 0.6 percent of participants sought treatment for adverse events. Two percent of participants met criteria for past-year moderate or severe kratom-related substance use disorder.

"Although our findings show kratom to be relatively safe according to these self-reports, unregulated medicinal supplements raise concerns with respect to contamination or higher doses of the active chemicals, which could increase negative side effects and harmful responses," Garcia-Romeu said in a statement.

Kratom Seems Safe for Pain, Anxiety, Opioid Withdrawal 

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0376871620300144

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitragyna_speciosa