Does Coffee Raise Cholesterol?
Just in! My friend just told me his cholesterol increased significantly when he started drinking a lot of unfiltered coffee every day. Could too many daily espressos be contributing to your elevated cholesterol?
Have you heard that unfiltered coffee may increase LDL (bad) cholesterol? If you’re a coffee lover like me and are genetically prone (or otherwise) to high cholesterol, this sounds like BAD news! If coffee is truly one of the most consumed beverages in America, we should be coffee curious (total rip off from Stephen Colbert!)
Why does cholesterol matter? Because high cholesterol is linked to increased risk of coronary heart disease, stroke, and diabetes 2, among others. High cholesterol is made up of LDL and HDL; LDL cholesterol is typically considered the “bad” cholesterol that causes the build-up of fatty deposits within our arteries, reducing or blocking the flow of blood and oxygen the heart needs. The other type of cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL), is better in higher numbers because it helps remove LDLs from the bloodstream.
My recent blog noted that consuming up to 400 mg of caffeinated coffee a day, which translates into about 4 cups, appears to be safe for most healthy adults according to the Mayo Clinic. But does that include filtered and unfiltered coffee? One small study concluded that unfiltered coffee was associated with higher mortality than filtered brew. Unfiltered coffee includes French press coffee, Turkish coffee, and espresso, whereas filtered coffee is made using a paper filter in a drip machine, K-cup machine, or a pour-over.
Coffee oils, called diterpenes (such as cafestol and kahweol) are naturally found in caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee. Research indicates that cafestol affects the body’s ability to metabolize and regulate cholesterol. According to a meta-analysis of controlled studies on coffee and cholesterol, coffee oils may decrease bile acids and neutral sterols. This may lead to increased cholesterol. Researchers concluded that cafestol is the “most potent cholesterol-elevating compound identified in the human diet.” On the other hand, the process of roasting coffee beans, antioxidants are formed, which are potent disease fighting compounds!
Without a filter, some of the oily substances found in coffee beans wind up in your cup. While some coffee aficionados say these oils make the brew taste better, “five to eight cups a day of unfiltered coffee may actually raise your ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol,” says Dr. Eric Rimm, a professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Notice that Dr. Rimm says 5 to 8 cups of coffee, not 1-4 cups?!
So let’s get back to the claim that 4 cups of coffee per day appears to be safe, and even perhaps healthy, for most individuals who enjoy coffee! Based on the current body of research, there is no clear-cut answer as to whether coffee on its own is going to detrimentally influence cholesterol levels; it depends on each individual’s body. So perhaps a few good rules to live by are: (1) Stick with a maximum of 4 cups of coffee per day, (2) Drink filtered coffee most of the time, and (3) Save the unfiltered coffee for the weekends.
Last and probably most important, eliminating the sugars and fats that are often added to coffee, the well known culprits of raising LDLs (can you say dessert for breakfast?), will have an even greater impact on reducing cholesterol levels than only switching to filtered coffee. So drink up my coffee-loving friends, and save the sweetened, unfiltered coffee drinks for the occasional (once a month?) treat!