Can Coffee Raise Cholesterol?
Many of us are conscious of our cholesterol levels, especially as we age. There appears to be an association between elevated cholesterol and the risk of premature death from cardiovascular disease. This is why we usually aim to lower our total cholesterol levels and LDL cholesterol. However, cholesterol is an important molecule in the body, and we don’t want the levels too low either.
Cholesterol has a number of important metabolic functions and is the basis for reproductive hormones. It is an essential component of biological membranes - it helps increase the cell’s exposure to compounds coming in from outside the cell. Cholesterol is also necessary to produce vitamin D from exposure to the sun and helps produce bile acids.
Dietary cholesterol
Dietary cholesterol doesn’t really affect your total cholesterol as much as one would think, yet a higher cholesterol intake might be enough to push you over the edge if your levels are already high and you’re genetically predisposed to higher levels. However higher cholesterol intake is also associated with greater muscle growth because cholesterol is the precursor to important anabolic hormones that are related to muscle growth and repair.
If you have issues with high cholesterol or a family history of the condition I’m sure you are fine-tuned to all the foods you should and shouldn’t eat to manage its levels, especially the ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol levels. Yet, there is one product you might not have considered and might disrupt your cholesterol management - coffee.
Coffee and cholesterol
It is known that coffee has many health benefits, however many studies have found that it makes a big difference in how it is prepared. Filtering the coffee through a paper filter removes some substances that might cause the rise in cholesterol.
A large Swedish study concluded that drinking filtered coffee had a 15% reduction in any cause of death and a 12% reduced risk of dying of cardiovascular diseases in elderly men compared to drinking unfiltered coffee. Furthermore, it showed a 20% reduction in any cause of death compared to not drinking coffee in women.
Diterpenes - friend or foe?
Though brewed coffee does not contain actual cholesterol, it does have two natural oils that contain chemical compounds diterpenes, namely cafestol and kahweol, which have many benefits like anti-inflammatory, angiogenic (the formation of new blood vessels), and anti-tumour properties.
Diterpenes have an effect on cholesterol levels, especially raising LDL cholesterol. They affect the receptors and slow down the breakdown of LDL particles thus increasing their levels and serum triglycerides levels.
How to brew your coffee
Paper filters absorb diterpenes, leaving only negligible amounts in your cup. Espresso brewing methods and metal filters (like French press) don’t remove them.
Likewise, Turkish and Greek-style boiled coffee are considered unfiltered. These types of coffee preparation are actually particularly high in these compounds, due to higher temperatures and longer contact time between the coffee grounds and the water. The stronger the higher. Espresso, on the other hand, has about half as much. Diterpenes are present in unfiltered decaf coffee as well.
More than just LDL
Although we are talking about LDL cholesterol levels, unfiltered coffee raises total cholesterol too, along with triglycerides and apoprotein B, which can also raise heart disease risk. This cholesterol-raising effect has been demonstrated consistently in multiple randomized controlled trials, so the findings are considered reliable. These findings are nothing new either, some of the studies date back to 1987.
How much increase in cholesterol are we talking about? In most studies the coffee consumption was pretty substantial, around 4-6 cups, and the bump in cholesterol was around 6-8% (LDL cholesterol was raised by around 0.26-0.41 mmol/l or about 10-16 mg/dL, compared to boiled, filtered coffee). Not really significant, especially considering most of us drink a lot less coffee in a day. It was a dose-dependent effect, so if you drink less than that, it should have a smaller effect on your cholesterol.
What about instant coffee?
If you are an instant coffee consumer, consider that it is spray-dried and freeze-dried and has many problematic compounds in it like acrylamide (shown to cause neuropathy - dysfunction of the nervous system). A study found that instant coffee significantly raised levels of serum LDL cholesterol and decreased levels of serum triglycerides. If you filter it through a paper filter instead of dumping it in hot water, you can remove some of those compounds but it still hardly makes it a healthy choice.
Conclusion
Coffee is one of the most consumed drinks in the world and a really powerful brain-boosting tool that can easily become a drug. However, if you are healthy and don’t have any high cholesterol issues or other conditions that could cause atherosclerosis, I think you shouldn’t be concerned about diterpenes and their effects on your cholesterol levels.
Coffee has so many health benefits, if you like its taste and can metabolise it well, make sure you source the best possible quality and enjoy it. Always listen to your body to learn how it reacts to each cup.
Instead of trying to eliminate something that gives you a lot of pleasure and very few negative effects, rather focus on an overall healthy diet, plenty of movement and good sleep.
Resources:
https://bengreenfieldlife.com/podcast/qa-412/
https://academic.oup.com/aje/article/153/4/353/129046
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10037556/
https://www.webmd.com/cholesterol-management/coffee-cholesterol-connection
https://www.coffeeandhealth.org/cardiovascular-health/cholesterol