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Green coffee bean extract continues to be promoted in both the U.S. and Canada and is freely available at Canadian health food stores. Indeed, Health Canada has no authority to remove it from store shelves even if it wants to.

Dr. Joe Schwarcz, professor of chemistry at McGill University in Montreal, worries that Canadians do not fully appreciate how little evidence is required to back up the medical claims of some natural-health products.

“The Natural Health and Non-Prescription Health Product Directorate is a national shame,” Dr. Schwarcz says of the division of Health Canada that regulates natural health products. “It’s a type of negligence, because it gives the wrong impression to the public that these things are proven to be safe and effective, which is not the case.”

Green coffee bean extract is just one of the products Oz has touted over the years for its slimming properties. Previous Oz favourites have including acai berry, raspberry ketone and the tropical fruit garcinia cambogia.

Green coffee beans are coffee beans that have not been roasted. They contain chlorogenic acid, an antioxidant that is mainly lost during the roasting process, and is supposed to help with burning fat, weight loss, glucose metabolism and blood pressure. Oz began recommending them after the publication of a study funded by the manufacturer Applied Food Sciences Inc. The study, conducted in India in 2010, randomly assigned 16 people to high-dose extract, low-dose extract, or a placebo.