Green coffee bean extract

An extract of the green coffee bean, taken most often for weight.

People take it for

Weight and body fat
Blood pressure
Blood sugar
Cholesterol
Inflammation

A plain-English overview, not advice. Written from published reviews and trials and from what people say in public forums.

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What is green coffee bean extract?

Green coffee bean extract is made from green coffee beans, and the compound it is sold for is chlorogenic acid, a polyphenol the green bean carries in substantial amounts. The same compound turns up in smaller quantities in apples, artichokes, carrots, blueberries and potatoes, so it is an ordinary part of a lot of diets. Capsules are usually standardised to a share of chlorogenic acid, commonly half the weight of the extract, and some keep the caffeine that came with the bean while others are decaffeinated. It is one of the better-known weight supplements, and weight is where nearly all of its research has gone.

Why do people take green coffee bean extract?

Weight and body fat

The thinking. Weight is what nearly everyone buys green coffee bean extract for, and it is where almost all of its research has gone. The idea being tested is that chlorogenic acid shifts how the body handles fat and energy, acting on the enzymes that make fat and burn it.

What research has found. The largest review pooled fifteen trials in 897 adults and found small average falls in weight, body mass index and waist circumference, though body fat percentage did not shift. Another found a change in body mass index only, and a twelve-week trial found no change at all. Reviewers describe open debate here, and one team redid the earlier analyses because it thought their accuracy uncertain. Studies here point in different directions, so this one is still being worked out; the dose, how long people took it and who took part all seem to matter.

Blood pressure

The thinking. Blood pressure is the next reason people reach for it, often after a reading came back higher than they would like. Reviews of chlorogenic acid list blood pressure among the things they credit it with, alongside its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity.

What research has found. Three reviews have pooled these trials and all three found small average falls: roughly three to four mmHg off the upper reading and two to four off the lower, clearest in people whose pressure was high to start with. One also measured heart rate and found no change. The earliest review noted that its five trials were few, varied in design, were all in Asian populations and were funded by chlorogenic acid manufacturers. A fair body of trials has looked at this, and most point the same way.

Blood sugar

The thinking. Green coffee bean extract turns up in routines aimed at blood sugar, usually after a fasting test came back a little high. The thinking runs alongside the weight one: reviews credit chlorogenic acid with changing how glucose is handled and with easing insulin resistance.

What research has found. One review of fourteen trials in 766 adults found small average falls in fasting glucose and in insulin. Another found fasting sugar down, but insulin only in the trials using 400 mg a day or more. A twelve-week trial in 30 adults whose glucose handling was already impaired found the same pattern, while a single dose taken after cycling changed nothing. The studies disagree, so this is unsettled: dose, duration and who took part all seem to shift the result.

Cholesterol and blood fats

The thinking. Cholesterol and triglycerides are what people often go looking for a supplement about after a blood test. The thinking is the antioxidant idea applied to the fats in the blood; reviews describe chlorogenic acid acting on the way fat is made and cleared.

What research has found. The four studies here do not line up. One review found small average falls in total and LDL cholesterol but no change in triglycerides; a second, which read animal work alongside the trials, concluded that the effect on blood fats is contested. An eight-week trial in adults with fatty liver found triglycerides down until the figures were adjusted for weight change, and a crossover trial in 29 volunteers found almost nothing move. Results here go both ways, which usually means the dose, the length of a trial or the group taking part makes the difference.

Inflammation markers

The thinking. Some people take green coffee bean extract for nothing more specific than its antioxidant reputation, which is the thread running through almost everything written about chlorogenic acid. The thinking is that it mops up reactive molecules and turns down the chemical signals the body sends out when tissue is irritated.

What research has found. This is measured in blood tests rather than in how anyone feels. One review of five trials found average C-reactive protein, a general marker of inflammation, a little lower, most clearly at doses of 1,000 mg a day or more. A second, of eight trials in 330 adults, found one inflammatory signal lower and no change in the seven other liver and inflammation markers it looked at. Studies here point in different directions, so this one is still being worked out; the dose, how long people took it and who took part all seem to matter.

What does green coffee bean extract do in the body?

Chlorogenic acid is the compound green coffee bean extract is built around: a polyphenol formed from caffeic acid and quinic acid, and present in substantial amounts in the green bean. Reviews credit it with two broad activities that account for most of the rest. It mops up reactive molecules, and it turns down the signals the body uses to raise inflammation, among them tumour necrosis factor alpha and interleukin-6.

Beyond that, reviews describe it altering how glucose and fat are handled: switching on one of the enzymes that govern how cells use energy, damping the one that makes cholesterol, and quickening the one that carries fat in to be burned. How much of it reaches the blood is a live question, and one review puts that at about a third of what is swallowed. Coffee itself is no guide here: it is a drink of hundreds of compounds, of which chlorogenic acid and caffeine are the two most abundant.

What do people say about taking green coffee bean extract?

These are anecdotes people have shared, not evidence.

No community discussions have been summarised for this page yet.

What forms of green coffee bean extract are there?

Form	What’s different	Per serving, on products we list
Green coffee bean extract	Concentrated green coffee bean, sold by its chlorogenic acid percentage, caffeinated or decaffeinated.	not in our price tables yet

What else is worth knowing about green coffee bean extract?

Green coffee bean extract carries the caffeine that came with the bean unless the label says decaffeinated. Two of the weight trials used a decaffeinated extract deliberately, and a six-month trial gave chlorogenic acid and caffeine separately, at 200 mg each, because nobody had told their effects apart.
Labels count different things: some give the weight of the extract per serving, some a percentage of chlorogenic acid, some neither, and a serving may be more than one capsule. Trials used 50 mg to 1,200 mg of extract a day, mostly for eight to twelve weeks.
Almost all of this research was in adults who were overweight or who already had raised blood sugar, metabolic syndrome or fatty liver disease. A six-month trial in adults with type 2 diabetes and fatty liver found no change in liver fat or stiffness.
The one review that reported on side effects said the trials it pooled recorded none. They were short trials, though, and reviewers repeatedly ask for longer, independent ones before anything here is settled.

If you take medication, are pregnant, or have a health condition, check with a pharmacist or GP first.

The research behind this page (26 studies)

How much does green coffee bean extract cost?

That depends on the form and the pack, so we work out the price of the same dose of every green coffee bean extract product we can find and rank them.

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