Coffee chlorogenic acids added to foods for antioxidant boost
What it found
Adding coffee chlorogenic acids to foods like instant coffee, bread, doughnuts, yogurt and soymilk raised antioxidant activity in lab tests.
The authors say this could help make fortified foods, but more work is needed on taste and stability.
What they found
Studies in people
Absorption in people
About one third of the 5-CQA from the diet is absorbed from the gut into the bloodstream, though absorption varies between people. After coffee, two peaks of chlorogenic acids appear in blood plasma at 0.5 to 1.0 hours and 1.5 to 4.0 hours.
Animal and lab studies
Antioxidant activity
In lab tests, chlorogenic acids, especially 5-CQA, scavenge free radicals and can protect DNA from oxidative damage. They may also act as pro-oxidants depending on concentration and other conditions.
Studies in people and animals
Health effects
Chlorogenic acids have been linked to antioxidant, antiviral, antibacterial, anticancer and anti-inflammatory activity, and may reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer's disease. Some of these are well demonstrated in lab and animal studies, while others like anti-obesity and prebiotic effects are not yet well proven.
Other findings
Fortified instant coffee
Adding green coffee extract to instant coffee raised 5-CQA content to 3.18 g per 100 g compared to 1.20 g per 100 g in the control. Antioxidant activity increased to 30.9–32.0 g Trolox per 100 g versus 24.0–25.6 g in the control, and taste was not significantly different.
Fortified bread
Adding green coffee extract to bread increased total polyphenols, radical scavenging activity and chlorogenic acid content. The maximum level without affecting overall quality, especially taste, was 1.5% extract.
Fortified yogurt and soymilk
In yogurt, green coffee powder reduced serum separation and increased consistency. In soymilk, chlorogenic acids increased phenolics up to 70% and improved starch and protein digestibility, but the highest level reduced taste score.
What the authors conclude
“The fortification of foods with coffee CGAs has the potential to improve the functionality of foods.”
Also in their conclusions
- They say that coffee chlorogenic acids have multifunctional properties and that using them as a natural additive to increase phenolic intake is attractive for the food industry.
- They note that more research is needed on optimizing solvent-free extraction methods and on encapsulating chlorogenic acids to reduce bitterness in foods like chocolate.
- They conclude that fortifying foods with chlorogenic acids could deliver antioxidant concentrations beneficial for human and animal health, but food processes can reduce their content.
How it was done
The authors wanted to describe the main biological activities of coffee chlorogenic acids, how the body handles them, and their potential to be added to different foods to make functional products.
They reviewed studies on chlorogenic acids from green coffee, including how they are extracted, their health effects, how they are absorbed and metabolized, and what happens when they are added to foods like instant coffee, bread, doughnuts, yogurt and soymilk.
What it can’t tell you
- This is a review of many different studies, so it cannot show cause and effect for any single health outcome.
- Many of the health effects are from lab or animal studies, so they may not apply to people.
- The amount of chlorogenic acids that reaches the body and works may vary between people and depends on food processing.
Who paid
- Conflicts
- The authors declare no conflict of interest.
- Authors work at
- Tecnológico Nacional de México/Instituto Tecnológico de Veracruz, Mexico; Oklahoma State University, USA; CONACYT-Tecnológico Nacional de México/Instituto Tecnológico de Veracruz, Mexico
The paper
- Title
- Coffee Chlorogenic Acids Incorporation for Bioactivity Enhancement of Foods: A Review
- Type
- ReviewThe authors read earlier studies and describe what they found. It isn’t a new study.
- Evidence
- Studies in people · animals · lab
- Summarised from
- Full text
- Cite
- Rojas-González A, Figueroa-Hernández CY, González-Rios O, et al (2022). Coffee Chlorogenic Acids Incorporation for Bioactivity Enhancement of Foods: A Review. Molecules (Basel, Switzerland). doi:10.3390/molecules27113400Free full textPubMed 35684338DOI
Summary written 26 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error