2025-04-28 – News – www.theguardian.com
Caffeine can increase fat oxidation, but there are more effective ways to change your body composition
‘When you talk about ‘burning fat’, you’re talking about the oxidation of body fat; the breakdown of lipids into fatty acids to use them as fuel,” says Bethan Crouse, a performance nutritionist from Loughborough University. It’s the process that needs to occur for someone to lose weight or go through “body recomposition”; losing fat and gaining muscle.
Regular exercise can increase rates of fat oxidation, Crouse says. (When we work out at low-moderate intensity, fat provides the majority of the fuel for working muscles. As intensity increases, this will shift more towards carbohydrates.) However, she says, “There’s not necessarily a food that burns fat.” For a food to oxidise fat, consuming it would have to “replicate the effects of exercise”.
