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Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Science/2020 January 17

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January 17

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Health effects of tea and coffee

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Are heated beverages such as tea and coffee fattening? If they are only sometimes fattening, then under exactly what circumstances are they fattening? Freeknowledgecreator (talk) 01:32, 17 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Fattening compared to what? Keep in mind that tea and coffee are mostly water, unless you're into eating the coffee grounds or the tea leaves. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 02:18, 17 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Coffee and tea can sometimes contain sugar. I would assume that they may be fattening in such cases; what I'm wondering is whether they are potentially fattening in any other situation. Freeknowledgecreator (talk) 02:28, 17 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Your original premise had to do with tea and coffee, not with sugar, cream, etc. Those drinks are not fattening. Your additives to them might be. Another example is popcorn, which is said to be a healthy snack, being mostly air and having plenty of fiber. You render it unhealthy by adding butter and salt. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 02:33, 17 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]
If you include sugar in coffee the sugar is part of the coffee. Freeknowledgecreator (talk) 02:39, 17 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Where does it say that in the Coffee article? ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 02:42, 17 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Apparently it doesn't. That doesn't matter. It is my personal view of coffee. We could continue this discussion, but I think I have the answer I was looking for now. Freeknowledgecreator (talk) 02:46, 17 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]
It would be a common view, for convenience. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 02:50, 17 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]
"Coffee" is an ambiguous term, sometime referring to the beverage with nothing added, and sometimes to the drink with sugar, milk, cream, and various spices and flavorings added. If the term were not ambiguous, it wouldn't be necessary to specific "black" coffee to get the minimalist version. NonmalignedNations (talk) 00:52, 19 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Tea and coffee contain essentially no calories. They technically do have one or two calories per cup on average, but it's impossible under any realistic scenario to consume enough for this to mean anything. Obviously if you add things to them, now you have a mixture of coffee or tea and whatever you added. --47.146.63.87 (talk) 03:29, 17 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Some people add a stick of butter or various vegetable oils to butter. That would be fattening. --OuroborosCobra (talk) 03:38, 17 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]
What would be the procedure for adding a stick of butter to butter? ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 03:45, 17 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]
See [1] or [2] Nil Einne (talk) 03:54, 17 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]
(Bugs was referring to a typo by Cobra.) NonmalignedNations (talk) 06:12, 17 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Yo dawg, I heard you like butter… --47.146.63.87 (talk) 06:56, 17 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]
I think we're all aware of that. Nil Einne (talk) 08:43, 17 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Note that it is possible for a beverage to contain no, or few, calories per se, and yet cause those who consume it to gain weight. There are several mechanism by which this can happen. Here are a few:
  • A salty drink can make you thirsty, and then drink more fluid and retain water weight. This doesn't seem to apply to common preparations of coffee and tea.
  • Artificial sweeteners are believed to cause weight gain. One possible mechanism is that they may make the body expect more calories, and when it doesn't get them this causes hunger, resulting in more calories consumed.
  • There could be a mental link between the beverage and something that is fattening. For example, if you have coffee and donuts each morning, then coffee alone may make you crave donuts. This is a conditioned response, similar to how dogs were made hungry by hearing a bell ring. NonmalignedNations (talk) 06:12, 17 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

[citation needed] Body weight seems to have WP:MEDRS compliant sources to support these statements:

Numerous reviews have concluded that the association between body weight and non-nutritive sweetener usage is inconclusive, as observational studies tend to show a link to high body weight, while randomized controlled trials instead show a small causal weight loss.[40][44][45] Other reviews concluded that use of non-nutritive sweeteners instead of sugar reduces body weight.[46][47]

Nil Einne (talk) 08:55, 17 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Here's a reliable source which draws the opposite conclusion: [3]. They suggest another mechanism, that people think they can eat more if they drink a "diet" drink with the food. This explains why randomized studies show (minor) weight loss. If the people don't know they are drinking "diet" drinks, then they won't feel they can eat more. However, in the real world, people normally do know. NonmalignedNations (talk) 15:01, 17 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]
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