Popular Morning Drink Linked to More Muscle and Less Body Fat in New Study
Coffee drinkers may have another reason to appreciate their morning cup—and this one wouldn’t necessarily show up on the scale.
A new European Journal of Nutrition study of 2,264 middle-aged Finnish adults found that people who drank more coffee tended to have more skeletal muscle, less total body fat, and less visceral fat, even though BMI was similar across coffee-intake groups. The researchers described the pattern simply: “Higher coffee intake groups showed lower total and visceral fat and higher skeletal muscle mass, while BMI was comparable across groups.”
Related: Heart Experts Say Five Cups of Coffee a Day May Be Safe, but There’s a Catch
The Scale Didn’t Show the Difference
That contrast may be the most intriguing part of the research. Average BMI barely moved across the groups, ranging from 26.79 among the highest coffee consumers to 27.17 among non-consumers. Body composition told a different story.
Those drinking at least five cups daily averaged 27.14 percent body fat and 32.46 kilograms of skeletal muscle, compared with 29.67 percent body fat and 30.88 kilograms of muscle among non-consumers. Visceral fat area was also lower in the highest-intake group.
Researchers wrote that the findings “suggest that regular coffee drinkers exhibited a lower adiposity profile despite similar BMI,” highlighting why body weight alone can miss meaningful differences in muscle and fat.
Related: Coffee May Be Healthier Than You Think, but One Brewing Method Comes With a Catch
More Coffee Isn’t a Muscle-Building Prescription
There is a major catch: The study was cross-sectional, meaning it captured an association at one point in time. It cannot prove coffee caused participants to carry more muscle or less fat. Coffee consumption was also self-reported, and body composition was estimated using bioelectrical impedance rather than a direct measurement.
The authors explicitly called for “future longitudinal and intervention studies” to determine causality and identify which coffee compounds might be involved.
And the broader evidence isn’t unanimous. A separate 2026 Finnish study of 528 older adults using DXA scans found no statistically significant relationship between coffee consumption and the body-composition measures researchers examined.
Related: The Way You Brew Your Morning Coffee Could Be Raising Your LDL Cholesterol
Coffee May Be One Piece of a Bigger Metabolic Picture
The new study uncovered other intriguing connections. People who drank more coffee had lower levels of certain amino acids in their blood, while men who drank more coffee also showed healthier blood sugar and insulin markers. Researchers found that coffee may affect metabolism and hormones differently in men and women.
source https://www.mensjournal.com/health/popular-morning-drink-linked-to-more-muscle-and-less-body-fat-in-new-study
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