Study Says Drinking Caffeine Can Offset Your Holiday Weight Gain

Are you reeling from overdosing on food over Christmas? If you’re worried about putting on a few pounds after all that lechon and those holiday pastries, scientists suggest a possible solution to stave off weight gain: Drink coffee or tea. 

According to a study conducted by scientists at the University of Illinois, drinking caffeine can offset some of the negative effects of overeating by reducing the storage of lipids in your fat cells. As a result, caffeine limits weight gain and the production of triglycerides.

It doesn’t matter where your caffeine comes from, either, as both coffee and tea, which are highly caffeinated beverages, had similar results in the study. They found that regardless of its source, caffeine decreased the accumulation of lipids in adipose cells by 20%-41%.

“Considering the findings, mate tea and caffeine can be considered anti-obesity agents,” said Elvira Gonzalez de Mejia, a co-author of the study, as reported by the Illinois News Bureau.  “The consumption of caffeine from mate or from other sources alleviated the negative impact of a high-fat, high-sucrose diet on body composition due to the modulation of certain lipogenic enzymes in both adipose tissue and the liver,” she added.