Everywhere I turn, someone in the coffee world talks about mushroom coffee. Designed to appeal to health and fitness enthusiasts, mushroom coffee offers an elevated morning beverage option that comes with the added health benefits of functional mushrooms. Made from a blend of regular coffee and functional mushrooms, many have switched to mushroom coffee for added cognitive benefits, improved sleep quality, and sustained energy with less caffeine. But does mushroom coffee help you lose weight? Here’s what to know about how mushroom coffee could affect your metabolism.
What is mushroom coffee?
In general, mushroom coffee is a type of coffee that contains a blend of regular coffee beans and dehydrated, ground mushrooms. The type of functional mushrooms used in mushroom coffee varies depending on the product and the brand. Many products on the market use reishi, cordyceps, turkey tail, chaga, and lion’s mane mushrooms (or a blend of multiple mushrooms).
Each type of functional mushroom has a slightly different flavor in mushroom coffee and may offer varying health benefits. For example, Chaga mushroom coffee can support the immune system, whereas lion’s mane mushroom coffee often touts anxiety and stress-relieving benefits.
Does mushroom coffee help you lose weight?
Mushroom coffee has only recently become mainstream, so research on its benefits and effects is still limited. The question: “Does mushroom coffee help you lose weight?” is challenging to answer, given the lack of available research to support many claims by mushroom coffee brands. To get more insight from an industry professional, I chatted with Wade T. Lightheart, a certified sports nutritionist advisor, co-author of The Ultimate Nutrition Bible, and president of BIOptimizers, a brand focused on health and performance supplements. Lightheart specializes in research and development on medical mushrooms for BIOptimizers.
He shared his take on the various methods that mushroom coffee could contribute to weight loss.
Healthy blood sugar control
“Mushroom coffee is a fascinating product in the weight loss space. It doesn’t replace exercise and good nutrition, but combining coffee and reishi mushrooms offers a unique metabolic approach. Reishi contains compounds that might support healthy blood sugar control and metabolism, which can indirectly impact weight control,” he said.
In one study, lion’s mane mushrooms improved outcomes for rats on a high-fat diet. Biochemical markers, such as total cholesterol and triglyceride levels, were better than those that did not receive the lion’s mane extract. This could translate to helpful blood sugar control from regularly consuming mushroom coffee.
AMPK activation
“Lab studies found that reishi slowed fat storage and helped the body use sugar more efficiently. This means less extra sugar floating around that could turn into fat and better energy use by your cells. It also activates AMPK, which is a unique protein that helps regulate your metabolism. When you add reishi to coffee, it’s like a double boost. The caffeine in coffee helps increase the calories you burn even when you’re not active, keeps you awake and more energized to get moving, and boosts your body’s ability to break down fat,” Lightheart said.
Factors to consider
The question: “Does mushroom coffee help you lose weight?” has many factors to consider. A secondary question (or maybe one that should be asked first) is how coffee can impact weight loss. Much research suggests that caffeine may help speed up your metabolism and promote a full feeling. Mushroom coffee contains less caffeine than regular coffee, leaving me wondering whether it’s better to drink regular or mushroom coffee for weight loss.
With limited research, it’s hard to say that mushroom coffee can help you lose weight. Instead, consuming mushroom coffee can be a healthy tool for an overall weight loss plan (combined with other habits like a healthy diet and a regular exercise routine). All research studies on mushroom coffee and weight loss were performed on rats, not humans.
In addition, it may be worthwhile to consider the type of mushroom coffee you choose if weight loss is your primary goal. Opting for a product with reishi mushrooms may help support your weight loss efforts more than other functional mushroom coffees. As mushroom coffee grows in popularity, research studies that follow weight loss in humans would help hone in on an answer to this question.
For now, I recommend taking the weight loss claims associated with mushroom coffee with a grain of salt. It’s a great option to try as part of your overall health routine, but I wouldn’t expect to start rapidly shedding pounds just from drinking mushroom coffee alone. I feel the switch to mushroom coffee has more essential health benefits to focus on. For example, I’ve found that drinking mushroom coffee as my second cup of coffee for the day is a great way to cut down on my total caffeine consumption.
