Butter In Your Coffee - Is It Worth it?
Bulletproof coffee will give you energy, sure, but what else will it give you? Lots of calories with virtually no nutrition.
If you have not yet heard of “bulletproof” coffee, the practice of putting butter and other fat in your coffee, let me give you the background and some of the details. When I first heard of this trend, I hoped it was a joke, but as with many over-the-top nutrition fads, it is not.
Several years ago, when I was looking at the background on this, I learned the following about “bulletproof” coffee: Dave Asprey, a tech guy from Silicon Valley with two degrees: MBA and an undergrad degree in computer information systems, started this trend.
According to the Bulletproof website, the story is that Dave was hiking in the Himalayas and was suffering the ill effects of being at 18,000 feet above sea level and very low temperatures. I am sure many people who are not used to this have similar problems. I live a mile above sea level, and many tourists from sea level suffer from altitude sickness when they visit and are not prepared. Altitude sickness is a real thing.
Add to the frigid cold of the Himalayas, and it is no surprise that someone would not feel well. Hiking in sub-zero temps at over three miles above sea level takes a lot of effort.
Back to Dave. Feeling spent, he was given a local beverage that instantly felt better, helped his energy, and “flipped a switch” in his brain. This local beverage? Yak Butter Tea.
Yak Butter Tea is a local beverage that is a “necessity” for the people of Tibet.
Now let me make a couple of points here:
When someone is low energy, whether you give them a Snickers bar, a cup of hot chocolate, or Yak Butter Tea, something will change quickly.
About Yak Butter Tea, I can only speculate it is
a. based on what is available in the area,
b. it helps sustain the lifestyle of the locals who I suspect are active compared to the Netflix-binge-watching, Amazon ordering, screen-addicted community. I haven’t been to Tibet, so I don’t know for sure.
Of course, to the American hiker in the Himalayas, the next obvious step is introducing this marvel of energy to the sedentary Americans.
But wait! Why use tea when we have coffee? Why not use cow butter for yak butter?
Voila, we have the magic bullet - or bulletproof coffee. Never mind that we in the U.S. don’t have the same lifestyle as the Tibetans, or the same environment, or yak butter tea now cow butter coffee. It is all practically the same.
How does one get this to the next level to where people are not only willing to try something that is pretty much pure fat but drink it regularly?
STEP ONE: not only get people to buy into this wonder-drink but convince people that their coffee is inferior because it has toxic mold.
OK, don’t worry; your coffee does not have toxic mold. Or even regular mold. It just isn’t.
Mycotoxins are the toxins created by mold. We don’t want that because it can make us sick. The cheese that I forgot about in the back of the fridge has mold and is emitting mycotoxins. I found the bottle of bitters when cleaning out my pantry had mold floating on top and was emitting mycotoxins. What do I do? I threw the stuff out. I don’t eat it.
This whole thing about coffee having mold? It isn’t there. At least it isn’t by the time it gets to the consumer. Whether it is Dunkin’ Donuts or Starbucks, Maxwell House, or Folgers, the coffee you drink does not have mold or the mycotoxins from mold. It doesn’t. So, any “proprietary” method the Bulletproof people are doing isn’t anything special or a superior process compared to any other coffee you can buy at Costco or Whole Foods. It does cost $20 a pound. But other than that, nothing special.
Step one complete: get people to buy your coffee. Not their regular stuff cause it is scary toxic.
STEP TWO: get people to believe that grass-fed butter is the equivalent of yak butter. At least until we can tap into the yak butter market in the U.S.
While grass-fed butter, or more precisely, butter from grass-fed cows, does have a different fat profile than “regular” butter, it is still pretty much all fat. There will still be some water in the butter in making butter; hence I say, “pretty much.” Virtually no protein and no carbs. All the calories come from fat.
Now to clarify: I am NOT a proponent of a low-fat diet or fat-free foods. Instead, I recommend people choose the healthier fats, polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fat, more often.
No matter what type of fat it is, one tablespoon of fat is about 120 calories. In general, butter does have less. Here is a sample of fats and their calories in ONE tablespoon.
Butter = 100 calories (11 grams of fat)
Ghee = 135 calories (15 grams of fat)
Olive Oil = 120 calories (13 grams of fat)
Walnut Oil = 120 calories (13 grams of fat)
Avocado Oil = 120 calories (13 grams of fat)
Coconut Oil = 120 calories (13 grams of fat)
See the trend? Again, butter has fewer calories because of the water content in the butter. However, if we take out the water and milk solids (ghee), there is a difference.
The exact nutrient profile of yak butter isn’t known, at least not here in the U.S. One could only speculate as to why, perhaps because no yaks are being milked commercially in the U.S. I have been able to find at least. Also, again, speculation is that in Tibet, they have more significant issues than determining the nutrition profile of their food. They know it fuels them, and it works for them.
On a completely different note, one tablespoon of half and half is 20 calories (less than 2 grams of fat).
On to,
STEP THREE: promote another addition since we have GOT to profit MORE from people buying into this slice of heaven (from the cardiologist’s perspective, at least since this will keep them in business).
So, let’s go with MCT oil in the form of coconut oil. Yep, because putting 10W-40 in your engine that needs 5W-40 is the same.
First, so many people get this part wrong. MCT oil and coconut oil are not interchangeable in the way people are suggesting.
I need to take a side-step into some chemistry for a moment. If you want a complete overview of the chemistry, check out the video series on lipids from Khan Academy. https://youtu.be/OpyTJbzA7Fk When I teach college nutrition classes, this is at least a 30-minute discussion/lecture in the context of the lipids chapter, which takes a whole week of discussion. I am giving some context here.
MCT oil, or medium-chain triglyceride oil, is a real thing and necessary for people with fat-absorption issues such as cystic fibrosis. Most research on MCT oil uses a lab-grade MCT oil for their studies. Not coconut oil, not food, but something specifically for their research.
Coconut oil is within the spectrum of an MCT oil - chemically speaking.
Let me backup and explain this a bit more.
Fatty acids are carbon “chains,” most often with an even number of carbons. Depending on the number of carbons in the fatty acid chain, they are short-chain, medium-chain, and long-chain fatty acids. When THREE fatty acids are attached to a glycerol molecule, we have a triglyceride - three on glycerol. Note: chain length is different from saturation.
The most common fatty acids are long-chain fatty acids which are 14 or more carbons.
Short-chains are less than six carbons.
Medium-chain are 6-12 carbons.
Coconut oil is a 12-carbon fatty acid making it technically, or chemically, a medium-chain. But it does not BEHAVE like a medium-chain fatty acid but more like a long-chain fatty acid.
So, to use the term MCT and coconut oil interchangeably would be like using the word Dachshund and coyote interchangeably. They are both canines making them the same ANIMAL, but not quite the same. Between a Dachshund and a coyote, one is much more ferocious. Hands down, the Dachshund is the one more ferocious. Trust me. Anyway, you get the point.
OK, back to turning the Himalayan energy elixir into something that has alleged excellent benefits for people in this country not even remotely close to the Sherpas of the Himalayas.
Continuing with STEP THREE: sell your special MCT oil, which is 100% coconut oil. Call it something fabulous, like “Brain Octane” oil - because we want high octane anything, and now we have coconut oil somehow superior to the stuff I can buy at the regular grocery store. Taking information directly from the Bulletproof website (quoting), it states, “Brain Octane oil converts into ketones more efficiently than coconut or other MCT oil that have Lauric Acid - and it produces 4x more ketones than coconut oil.”
OK - so not coconut oil?
Just a few sentences down, the exact page continues from the website, the product is “…100% pure coconut oil…”
Wait, it is BETTER than coconut oil, but IS coconut oil? Am I missing something?
Not sure how coconut oil is better than coconut oil. I know this is confusing, but I, too, find this confusing. Read for yourself and help me out if you can see a distinction.
STEP FOUR: give the recipe for putting this stuff together.
The recipe is straightforward: 8 ounces special, overpriced proprietary coffee, 1-2 tablespoons of grass-fed butter or the special ghee, 1-2 tablespoons of special oil that is not coconut oil but comes from 100% coconut oil—lots of energy. But, no, that is a LOT of energy.
Energy, or the word we in the nutrition community call it, calories, is high in this coffee mixture.
One serving, as described below, add it up:
8 ounces coffee = 2 calories
1-2 tablespoons grass-fed butter = 100 - 200 calories (or use ghee which eliminates any water or pesky milk solids that contain essential nutrients 135 - 270 calories in the 1-2 tablespoons)
1-2 tablespoons special coconut oil (that isn’t coconut oil) = 120 - 240 calories
Total for ONE CUP = 222 calories at a minimum, up to 500 calories is using the higher amounts and ghee. Oh, and put it in a blender since water and fat don’t mix to help keep it together.
Seriously?! 500 calories in ONE CUP? I don’t know about you, but my morning coffee is in a 12-ounce mug, and I have two each morning. It isn’t for the energy or the caffeine, but because I like it.
But Bulletproof coffee gives me all-day energy! Yes, 500 calories will do that. Well, not all-day energy, but about one-fourth of the day’s energy for the 2,000 calorie/day person.
It fills you up! Totally.
And NO SUGAR! Because apparently, that’s partially the point.
What else will not be in this 500-calorie beverage? Protein, fiber, vitamins, minerals, or anything genuinely beneficial.
But what you ARE getting is pretty much ALL fat and not the good or healthy fats.
In the two tablespoons of the following, you get:
Ghee = 30 grams of total fat, of that 18 grams are saturated (60% of the fat is saturated fat)
OR
Grass-fed butter = 24 grams of total fat, of that 16 grams are saturated (67% of the fat is saturated fat)
Coconut oil = 27 grams total fat, of that 23.5 grams are saturated (87% of the fat is the saturated fat)
No joke - coconut oil is THE most saturated fat, higher than butter, lard, or beef tallow.
So, in this ONE cup of “coffee,” depending on whether you choose ghee or butter, you will get 51-57 grams of total fat, and of that fat, 39.5 - 41.5 grams is saturated fat.
Keep in mind that I am not giving FAT the smackdown, but SATURATED fat—having that much FAT in ONE beverage.
Seriously, I would love to have a good burger for that amount of fat. And, in my opinion, it tastes better.
Now, what you COULD do is this:
Have a smoothie with fruit, veggies, grains, actual dairy (not butter). In other words, lots of fiber, some protein, vitamins, and minerals, and an excellent start to your day that is filling.
AND with your smoothie, you can have a couple of cups of coffee with half and half if you want.
I have smoothies pretty much all summer and during the “warm” months (I switch to an oatmeal “concoction” in the cooler months)
Tropical Berry Blast Smoothie
1 cup vanilla-flavored soy “milk” or
1 cup frozen mixed berries such as blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries
1/3 cup fat-free, plain Greek yogurt (whole milk Greek yogurt is also acceptable)*
1/4 cup uncooked oats
Pour soy milk into a blender; add frozen berries, Greek yogurt, and oats. Mix until blended.
Serves one and contains 300 calories; 6 grams fat (1 gram saturated); 125 mg sodium, 47 grams carbohydrates (8 grams fiber); 17 grams protein; 400 mg calcium. This profile is with fat-free yogurt. If made with whole-milk Greek yogurt, add 20 calories, add 3 grams fat (add 2 grams saturated fat) and REDUCE protein by 1 gram—no change to sodium, carbohydrates, fiber, or calcium.
Concerned about all those carbohydrates? Where is the added sugar? Maybe in soy milk? The berries and yogurt are all naturally occurring sugars. I have never told anyone that they were getting too much sugar from all the fruit they eat. Seriously, not the problem. Besides, glucose is THE preferred fuel for the brain, the muscles, and the tissues. That is a fact.
I don’t imagine people who add butter and oil to their coffee are going to suddenly switch to a blend of fruit, yogurt, and oats. That’s OK. But your body would do so much better now and in the long-term.
And you will have lots of energy and feel full for several hours. If it turns out you need more food, you are already 200 calories ahead of the game.
On a completely different matter: the only good time butter should be in a beverage? Hot buttered rum.
If you made it this far, let me know what you think.
