30 cups of coffee a day might help the obese lose weight

A report in Nature Communications by Guo Zhang and colleagues has identified some of the neural circuitry involved when caffeine is used to suppress appetite and increase energy expenditure in obese mice.

The researchers found that obese mice had unusual activity in the part of the brain that regulates energy balance, but that having caffeine — which interacts with that part of the brain — led the mice to eat less, lose weight and use more energy.

As the amount of caffeine given to the mice was the equivalent of 24–36 cups of coffee for humans it may be a while before this research translates into a fat-beating craze.

Personally I reckon you’d spend so much time in the bathroom you wouldn’t have time to eat. You would also expend more energy just hurrying to the bathroom. So you’d probably lose weight just drinking 30 cups of water a day.