Decaffeinated coffee has become a major part of the market as people wish to avoid the behavioural changes associated with caffeine. While caffeine reduces body weight as well, it is important to determine whether decaffeinated coffee improves metabolic, cardiovascular and liver function. We have therefore given decaffeinated green coffee extract (DC) to fat rats as a chronic treatment to determine these changes. Rats were given a high-carbohydrate, high-fat diet to induce metabolic, cardiovascular and liver changes characteristic of human metabolic syndrome.
8-9 weeks old Wistar rats (335 ± 5 g, n = 48) were divided into 4 groups of 12 rats: corn starch diet-fed rats; corn starch diet-fed rats given DC (5% in diet); high-carbohydrate, high-fat diet-fed rats and high-carbohydrate, high-fat diet-fed rats given DC (5% in diet). All rats were fed for 16 weeks. Treatment groups were given diets for first 8 weeks and the diets were supplemented with DC for the last 8 weeks.
DC reduced body weight in high-carbohydrate, high fat diet-fed rats while slightly reducing food intake compared to high-carbohydrate, high fat diet-fed. DC treatment reversed increase in systolic blood pressure and attenuated left ventricular diastolic stiffness while reducing collagen deposition and infiltration of inflammatory cells in the heart. DC treatment also improved liver inflammation and fat deposition in the liver. While DC improved cardiovascular function, it did not induce any changes in body fat.
These results suggest that decaffeinated green coffee improved obesity-related cardiovascular and liver changes in diet-induced obese rats.