Drinking coffee 30 minutes before exercising could increase fat burning. (Rawpixel pic)

GRANADA: Drinking a strong coffee 30 minutes before exercising could increase the burning of fat – which could be beneficial for losing weight.

This is what a new study conducted by Spanish researchers reveals, who specify that the effects are even more marked if the exercise is done in the afternoon.

Scientists from the Department of Physiology at the University of Granada in Spain have studied the influence of caffeine on the oxidation or burning of fat during exercise.

They followed 15 men aged an average of 32 years, who participated in an exercise test on four occasions at intervals of seven days; some ingested the equivalent of a strong coffee, others a placebo, at 8am and 5pm during these tests.

It should be noted that the preconditions for each stress test were standardised to avoid biasing the results.

Published in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, their work suggests that consuming about 3 mg/kg of caffeine – that’s one strong coffee – 30 minutes before engaging in fitness activities could increase the rate of fat burning significantly.

“The results of our study showed that acute caffeine ingestion 30 minutes before performing an aerobic exercise test increased maximum fat oxidation during exercise regardless of the time of day,” explained Francisco José Amaro-Gahete, one of the study’s authors.