"Does Coffee Affect Cholesterol?"
In a video I did a decade ago—
you can tell how ancient it is
by the silly graphics—
I explained that the cholesterol-raising
factor in coffee does not pass through
a drip coffee paper filter.
Give people French press coffee,
which is filtered, but without paper,
and their cholesterol swells up
over time starting within just two weeks,
but switch them to paper-filtered coffee,
and their cholesterol comes
right back down.
Same amount of coffee,
but just prepared differently.
The cholesterol-raising factor from
coffee beans has since been identified—
it’s the fatty substances in the oil
within coffee beans.
One reason it took us so long
to figure that out is that it didn’t
raise cholesterol in rats or hamsters,
or even monkeys, but it did
in human beings.
But, it apparently gets stuck
in the paper filter.
This explains why filtered coffee
doesn’t affect cholesterol,
whereas boiled, French press,
or Turkish coffees do.
Espresso as well, which has 20 times
more of the cholesterol-raising
substance cafestol than
paper-filtered drip coffee,
with Turkish and boiled coffee
being the worst,
though instant and percolator coffee
are pretty low, even without
the paper filter.
Note, if you make drip coffee
with one of those metal mesh filters
without the paper, it would presumably
be just as bad as like the French press.
So, the studies in general appeared
to consistently find that it was
this fatty component that was then
filtered out by paper,
but a small number of studies suggested
that filtered coffee may also increase
cholesterol levels, and began to cast
some doubt onto what appeared
to be a fairly clear picture.
So, yeah, the cholesterol-raising
effects brought about by the consumption
of filtered coffee may not be as strong
as those of the boiled coffee,
but maybe we shouldn’t discard
the possibility that filtered coffee
may also play a small, but important,
role in raising cholesterol.
I knew about this study,
where three cups a day of filtered coffee
raised total cholesterol,
but the rise in LDL “bad” cholesterol
was not statistically significant.
Same with this study, where stopping
filtered coffee reduced total cholesterol,
suggesting perhaps only partial removal,
but no one had ever just measured
the levels of the cholesterol-raising
compounds in the paper filters…
until now.
The results showed that most of the
cholesterol-raising cafestol was retained
by the coffee grounds, rather than
actually getting stuck in the filter itself.
In other words, the principal function
of the paper filter is to not
necessarily to block the compound
itself, but to block any fine particles
that are carrying the compound.
Like, when you make French press coffee,
there’s that fine mesh screen,
but you still notice a little sludge
at the bottom of the cup;
that’s the tiny particles that pass through
and can carry some of the risk.
But, a little cafestol does
get through the filter.
So, yeah, you can cut out more than
90% – switching from French press,
or one of the metal mesh filters,
by using a paper filter.
If you use coffee that starts out
with a high level of
the cafestol compound,
you’re still clearing out about 95%
with the paper, but there may be
enough left to still bump your LDL,
but you don't know until you...
put it to the test.
They started out with a high cafestol coffee.
After a month of drinking
two cups a day,
their LDL cholesterol
went up significantly,
even though it was paper-filtered.
So, if you have high cholesterol despite
eating a healthy diet, you may want
to try cutting out coffee
and getting retested.
Or, you can try switching to a
lower cafestol coffee.
There’s all sorts of variables,
such as roasting degree or grind size
that may affect cafestol levels.
One can imagine a smaller particle size
would allow for greater extraction.
Roasting appears to destroy some of it;
so, a really dark roast should have less.
But, there’s not much difference between
just light and medium roast.
Indeed, in this study, there was no
significant difference between the
rise in cholesterol after a medium
light roast versus a medium roast.
They both raised bad cholesterol.