Hello doctors,
I hear a few things: 1) that butter has little nutritional value and and raises LDL cholesterol
and 2) that bulletproof coffee keeps you satiated for longer and thus, you eat less food because of it
My question is: Can bulletproof coffee be safely used daily if it helps you avoid overeating, or is a tablespoon of butter every morning a bad choice regardless?
Bulletproof coffee or similar is not a health-promoting practice and butter has no evidence that it’s uniquely satiating. Quite the opposite in fact. Foods high in protein, fiber, and water tend to be satiating. I’d focus on them for that purpose.
People take it because of the apparent brain-boosting properties of the drink. Is there some evidence that medium chain fatty acids can boost cognition? Or could the cognitive benefits simply arise from not having to digest something heavy in the morning?
There are no reliable cognitive benefits from MCT vs other eucaloric food or skipping breakfast- particularly a high protein breakfast.
When you say it’s not “health-promoting,” do you mean it can be harmful to someone who is not overweight and is physically active? If so, is there an effective strategy I can use to convince my friend that he should stop drinking it daily, or is this best left alone?
Yes, as the effects of bullet-proof-style coffee on serum lipoproteins (e.g. LDL and triglycerides) appear to be deleterious regardless of health status. If your friend is open to discussing changing their behavior, then exploring replacement behaviors may be beneficial. However, most people who engage in this type of behavior/thinking do not believe that high “cholesterol” increases risk of heart disease. While the evidence is pretty clear in this respect, it’s not really an effective behavioral change strategy to just show them the evidence.
He told me he doesn’t think the dose of 1 tablespoon per day is significant enough to raise LDL. Do you have a study that proves him wrong? So far, I found one that gave participants about 3 tablespoons per day.
I have zero interest in arguing with your friend using you as a conduit.
That said, yes, we have cited loads of evidence showing the dose-dependent relationship between dietary saturated fatty acid replacement and atherogenic lipoprotein load in our multi-part review on cholesterol, our podcast, and previous article on red meat and health. I think you should be able to find these.