Does Coffee Reduce Appetite?

Millions of us cannot start the day without our coffee. According to several studies regular coffee reduces our risk of developing diabetes, mental illness, many cancers,

Chances are, you probably think that coffee suppresses your appetite. A new study from the journal Appetite actually suggests the opposite: Researchers found that coffee may not affect your appetite at all.

Australian researchers had nine women, average age 26, come into the lab four separate times. Each time, they gave them three things: a standard breakfast, a placebo or a caffeine pill, and one of two drinks  (water or decaf coffee). This resulted in four combinations (for the four visits): water with a placedbo pill, water with a caffeine pill, decaf coffee with a placebo pill, and decaf coffee with a caffeine pill. Then, two hours later, researchers gave subjects more of their selected drink and another pill. Two and a half hours after that, the participants were given a buffet lunch and told to eat as much as they wanted. In addition to that, researchers tested subjects’ breath, blood, and appetite sensations between meals.

So what happened? Get ready for this shocker: Nothing! Regardless of which drink they had—coffee, caffeine, decaf or none at all—they all ended up eating the same amount at the buffet each time and also had similar appetite levels.