The Effect of Green Coffee Bean Extract on Cardiovascular Risk Factors: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Cardiovascular disease remains the primary cause of noncommunicable disease- related death. The present systematic review and meta-analysis was performed to assess the possible benefit of the green coffee bean extract on cardio-metabolic markers.

PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library were systematically searched to identify clinical trials that examined the effect of green coffee bean extract on cardio-metabolic risk factors including serum lipid profiles, glycemic status-related markers, blood pressure, and anthropometric indices. Since the included RCTs were carried out in different settings, random effect models were used to conduct all meta-analyses.

Fifteen studies (19 arms) consisting of 637 participants were included. The results indicated that green coffee bean extract significantly reduced levels of total cholesterol (-5.93 mg/dl; 95% CI: -9.21, -2.65; I²: 0%), fasting plasma glucose (-2.21 mg/dl; 95% CI: -3.94, -0.48; I²: 32%), systolic blood pressure (-3.08 mmHg; 95% CI: -4.41, -1.75; I²: 26%), diastolic blood pressure (-2.27 mmHg; 95% CI: -3.82, -0.72; I²: 61%), body weight (-1.24 kg; 95% CI: -1.82, -0.66; I²: 15%), and BMI (-0.55 kg/m²; 95% CI: -0.88, -0.22; I²: 73%). Although the pooled effect size of LDL-C, fasting insulin, and waist circumstance were significant, the results were significantly influenced by individual studies. No significant effect was detected for triglycerides, HDL-C, HbA1C, and HOMA-IR. However, the nonsignificant pooled effect size for triglyceride levels was influenced by one individual study.

The present study suggests that green coffee been extract consumption can improve total cholesterol, triglycerides, body weight, blood pressure, and fasting plasma glucose.