Since 1971 when the first Starbucks opened in my hometown of Seattle, I have been a coffee lover. And over the years I’ve developed a passion for Grande and Venti iced lattes. I would be thrilled to learn that this has somehow helped my thighs, but alas this is far from the case. Separate from my own anecdotal experience, caffeine is one of the more typical ingredients showing up in cellulite creams and lotions. There are two reasons for this. The first is caffeine’s distant relationship to aminophylline. Aminophylline is a modified form of theophylline (Source: Yale New Haven Health Library, Alternative/Complementary Medicine, www. yalenewhavenhealth. org), and the fact that coffee contains theophylline (Source: Progress in Neurobiology, December 2002, pages 377-392). There is no research to prove or disprove that theophylline can affect cellulite. However, researchers have disproved aminophyilline’s impact on cellulite. The second reason caffeine may show up in cellulite products stems from research showing it to have benefit for weight loss. But that’s only when you drink it, not when you rub it on your thighs.
There are only two studies showing caffeine to have benefit for reducing cellulite. One was conducted by Johnson & Johnson, which owns the RoC brand, which sells cellulite creams that contain caffeine. The other was conducted by cosmetic ingredient manufacturers that sell anti-cellulite compounds (Source: Journal of Cosmetic Science, July-August 2002, pages 209-218). There is no other independent research to show that caffeine provides any benefit for treating cellulite.
Caffeine does have potential as an antioxidant, so it isn’t a wasted ingredient in skin – care products. It’s just not one that can reduce the appearance of cellulite. (Sources: BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine, March 2006, www. biomedcentral. com/1472- 6882/6/9; Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Biochemistry, November 2005, pages 2219-2223; Obesity Research, July 2005, pages 1195-1204; and Sports Medicine, November 2001, pages 785-807.)