Does the weight loss coffee that went viral on TikTok work?

Some people like to take coffee with cinnamon simply because they like the taste. However, Tik Tok has given us a new and compelling reason to do it: lose weight.

One of TikTok’s latest viral fat-burning ideas is this: drink cinnamon coffee. But to what extent is this true? There is scientific evidence behind this claim.

Well, the reality is that it is. But scientific evidence is not always equally reliable. In this case, as well described in the article for Talk Director of the Nutrition and Food Sciences Program at the University of South Australia, Evangeline MantisiorisIt has been proven that cinnamon can help us lose weight, both when combined with coffee and other foods. But not as much as TikTok videos promise.

Viral cinnamon coffee recipe

To make viral TikTok coffee, you just need to prepare the drink like we usually do and add some cinnamon and cocoa. The latter is not for weight loss, but to improve taste. But, logically, ideally it should be low-fat black cocoa.

What type of cinnamon should I use?

There are two types of cinnamon: Cassia and Ceylon. The first is the one that can usually be found in supermarkets. To purchase another, we usually have to go to establishments that specialize in wholesale spices.

The quality of Ceylon cinnamon is incomparably better than cassia, mainly for two reasons. On the one hand, Cassia contains more cinnamaldehyde. This substance is responsible for the characteristic cinnamon aroma. This can make us think that the higher the quantity, the better. However, cassia cinnamon has 95% this compound, so the taste becomes too strong, becomes spicy and less pleasant. On the other hand, Ceylon cinnamon has 50% to 60% cinnamaldehyde. This gives it just the right and needed hint of cinnamon flavor. Its taste is sweeter, gentle and pleasant.

But, in fact, it is still a matter of taste. Instead, there is a completely objective reason why Ceylon cinnamon is better. This is its content in coumarin, a substance that can be toxic to the liver in relatively small quantities. It is considered unsafe if it exceeds 0.1 mg/kg body weight. Ceylon cinnamon has 0.004% coumarinbut Cassia has 1%, Thus, a person weighing 60 kg will exceed the safe dose with just two teaspoons of cassia cinnamon.

If you want to make TikTok’s famous cinnamon coffee, make sure you add little, and if not, make it Ceylon.

Does cinnamon coffee help you lose weight?

To talk about the effects of cinnamon coffee on weight loss, we need to look at its two main ingredients separately. On the one hand, there are studies that show that coffee helps you lose weight. However, these are observational studies in which some 0.12 kg per year. Observational studies eliminate many very important steps in experimental design. The results are simply observed, without the participation of a control group and without any additional consideration. Besides, 0.12 kg per year is not exactly a big achievement.

When it comes to cinnamon, there have been several reviews that also point to its weight loss effects. Mantzioris mentions a review of several previous studies that concluded that one cup a day can help reduce body mass index (BMI) and overall weight. But again, these were small numbers. BMI decreased by 0.4 kg/m2, and total weight decreased by 0.92 kg. There are other studies that also indicate a decrease in these indicators, but with even smaller numbers. Moreover, none of them showed differences in body fat composition. It doesn’t seem to burn fat as the viral cinnamon coffee promises. You’ll just lose a little weight. Almost in the same way that we can hesitate without doing anything.

So we shouldn’t drink coffee with cinnamon?

There’s nothing wrong with coffee with cinnamon, especially if it’s Ceylon cinnamon. The fact is that taking it for weight loss does not make much sense, since the effects in this sense will be minimal. There are much more effective strategies in this sense. Especially those based on exercise and nutrition education.

So, as Mantzioris explains well, if you want to drink cinnamon coffee because you like it, go ahead. But if you want to lose weight, don’t expect miracles. They don’t exist.