ADDING BUTTER AND OIL TO COFFEE – SERIOUSLY?

​The latest coffee trend sees butter and coconut oil tossed in, to create a brew that is meant to enhance brainpower while shaving inches off your waist.

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WHATS HAPPENED? 

For people in ‘the know’ with health trends, this isn’t new. If you haven’t noticed, more and more of the trendier cafes – riffing off paleo phenomenon – are offering coffees laced with butter and oil.
It all started when US entrepreneur Dave Asprey downed a cup of yak butter tea in the Tibetan Himalayas in 2004. Trying to replicate the buzz back home, he eventually settled on a large cup of coffee, two tablespoons of grass-fed butter and two tablespoons of medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) oil. Asprey claims that by drinking one of his ‘Bulletproof coffees’ in the morning, you’ll get “unusual” mental energy while maintaining complete satiety deep into the afternoon. Asprey also credits the coffee with helping him shed over 40 kilograms.

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HOW DOES BUTTER FIT IN?

Asprey claims the butter adds a nutritional payload. Although he stresses it must be grass-fed butter, which is higher in antioxidants and vitamins A, E, D and K than grain-fed butter.

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WHAT ABOUT MCT OIL?

​This is the magic ingredient. According to Asprey, MCT oil (such as coconut oil) rapidly converts to ketones, which is a source of energy - “It turns out the brain prefers ketones to glucose as a fuel source. So if your brain’s running on ketones rather than glucose, food cravings go away and your ability to both focus and think improves dramatically. It’s like your brain turns on again”.

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SHOULD I BE DRINKING THIS STUFF EACH MORNING?

So far, there is only a smattering of studies to support Asprey’s claims. Dietitians have pointed out the staggering kilojoule load of packing your morning coffee with butter and oil. Indeed, a single cup of bulletproof coffee contains roughly 2000 kilojoules – about a quarter of the recommended daily total. It also carries 44 grams of saturated fat – nearly twice your RDI. Of course, recent studies have questioned whether saturated fat is as bad for you as previously once thought.

If you're interested you can check out a previously blog here, talking about the changing perceptions of 'fats' and coconut oil,  a Medium Chain Saturated Fat (MCT).

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SO WHAT’S MY MOVE?

Give it a whirl and see how it affects you, but follow these steps;

1. The coffee should replace breakfast, not accompany it
2. Eat solid helpings of protein, fruit and vegetables at subsequent meals
3. If your diet already consists with high levels of fat, consider lowering your saturated fat intake at other meals

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​MAKE YOUR OWN ROCKET FUEL

INGREDIENTS

• 2 tablespoons grass-fed butter
• 1-2 tablespoons of MCT oil
• 2 cups (500ml) of coffee

​METHOD

• Brew coffee using French press or paper filter methods
• Pre-heat a blender by filling it with boiling water
• Empty the water from the blender and add the brewed coffee, butter and MCT oil. Blend until there is a thick layer foam on the top, like a latte.

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