Does coffee affect your cholesterol?

This beloved morning beverage has the potential to raise blood lipids in certain circumstances

By T. Duncan | Dec. 18, 2023 Medically reviewed by Chad Shaffer, MD

For coffee lovers, your morning cup of joe is a way of life. The smell, the flavor, the caffeine—it’s all part of your daily ritual. If you’re in the “I love coffee” club, you’re not alone. According to NIH, 75% of Americans are coffee drinkers, and almost 50% of us drink it daily.

Because coffee is so widely consumed you likely take time to think about how it affects your body in the long-term. It’s easy to forget that drinking coffee can affect your health. High cholesterol is a dietary concern that can lead to heart disease, and it’s crucial to understand how and whether coffee can affect your cholesterol.

Can coffee cause high cholesterol?

You may be wondering what coffee and cholesterol have to do with each other. Well, that’s a great question. Cholesterol is a waxy substance found in many foods. It’s also produced by our liver in two forms: high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and low-density lipoprotein (LDL). While everyone has cholesterol in their body, having too much can adversely affect heart health. Coffee itself doesn’t contain any cholesterol, but its natural oils contain kahweol and cafestol, two chemical compounds that have the potential to raise cholesterol levels.

Most experts agree that quitting a moderate amount of coffee probably won’t lower cholesterol levels—but could drinking lots of coffee or certain types of coffee raise levels? The truth is that it’s very difficult to generalize how coffee impacts cholesterol levels in the average person. “This is very hard to track and correlate in real life,” says Mary Green, MD, a cardiologist at Manhattan Cardiology in New York. Dr. Green points out that many of the studies conducted linking coffee to higher cholesterol levels were small, and the elevations of patients’ cholesterol values in the blood work observed in the studies were modest. In other words, yes, the chemical compounds in coffee can raise cholesterol, but the effect coffee has on your cholesterol depends on individual factors.

So, who should be thinking about how their morning cup of joe impacts cholesterol? Well, firstly, if you’ve already been told to watch your cholesterol or that you have cardiovascular risk factors, such as high blood pressure, you might want to monitor your coffee intake. Recent studies suggest that daily consumption of unfiltered coffee—coffee that doesn’t pass through a paper filter, such as French press or cold brew—can lead to a marginal increase in lipid levels, says Catalina Ruz, MS, a registered dietitian with Top Nutrition Coaching in North Carolina. This effect is more pronounced in individuals with pre-existing high cholesterol levels.

“The rise in cholesterol levels is typically marginal in individuals with previously normal lipid profiles,” Ruz adds. Marginal in this context means that the slightly higher levels of cholesterol in otherwise healthy individuals correlated with coffee isn’t enough to make a difference in your health.

However, there could be other reasons you should avoid coffee—and that’s its caffeine content. “Caffeine, for some people, can worsen blood pressure and risk factors for arrhythmias,” Dr. Green says. “Those people should avoid all forms of caffeine or stimulants, not limited to coffee.”

Ultimately, coffee could impact your cholesterol levels, but it’s not the only factor. “A diet rich in saturated fats has a much more significant and substantial impact on cholesterol levels than coffee consumption does,” Ruz says. When you are diagnosed with high blood pressure, it’s important to speak with your cardiologist or healthcare provider about the best diet for you.

Factors that affect coffee and cholesterol

If coffee doesn’t have any cholesterol in it, you may be wondering how it has any impact on cholesterol at all. Here’s how it works: Kahweol and cafestol, which are diterpenes (active compounds) can raise the serum cholesterol levels and triglycerides found in the blood. In plain English, serum cholesterol is a way of measuring the amount of lipids (fats) in the body, and triglycerides are fats bundled with cholesterol.

In other words, these active ingredients in coffee change your body’s chemistry in a way that increases the amount of fat that is measurable in the blood and serum. That’s true for all types of coffee, but a few variables can impact how much it impacts your cholesterol, including how you brew it, how much you consume, and how you drink it.

Brewing method

Coffee connoisseurs are always looking for the best way to brew their coffee beans. But how you make your coffee doesn’t just affect how it tastes, it also impacts how healthy it is for you.

Cross-sectional studies suggest that brewing methods that use a paper filter, such as regular coffee pots, Chemex, or v60 coffee drippers, can reduce compounds linked to higher cholesterol, says Ruz. That’s because they essentially filter out kahweol and cafestol. Conversely, methods without a paper filter, like French press coffee, espresso, Turkish coffee, or Moka pots, tend to retain higher concentrations of kahweol and cafestol, thereby having a more significant impact on cholesterol levels. Instant coffee, which is a powder you mix with hot water and don’t have to brew, has lower levels of diterpenes.

“Studies also suggest differences between decaffeinated and caffeinated coffee, with caffeinated coffee affecting LDL cholesterol, total cholesterol, and triglycerides, while decaffeinated coffee does not show these effects,” Ruz says while noting that more research is needed, as some studies report minimal differences between the two.

Amount consumed

“One or two cups of coffee per day is generally safe for most people,” Dr. Green says. She says this is true for general cardiovascular health, and people shouldn’t have much more than that—regardless of their lipid profile. More than this could have an impact on your cholesterol levels.

Preparation method

What you put in your coffee makes a big difference in how healthy it is. “The milk, milk alternatives, sugars, and syrups people add to their coffee are generally more damaging to health than the brewed coffee itself,” Dr. Green says. She says the rule of thumb she gives patients is: “Don’t drink your calories.”

All these additions can impact your cholesterol levels, even more so than the coffee alone. Opt for low-fat milk with a dash of cinnamon for a little extra flavor. Cinnamon has been shown to reduce blood sugar in healthy adults, so you’ll be adding a little health boost, too.

Coffee alternatives

There are plenty of health benefits of coffee. “Coffee contains compounds known for their health benefits and protection against chronic illnesses,” Ruz says. These healthy compounds include antioxidants like flavonoids, polyphenols, along with traces of carbohydrates, lipids, nitrogen compounds, potassium, and magnesium. These antioxidants have been linked to protective effects against Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, heart attack, and stroke, says Ruz.

However, if you and your provider decide eliminating or reducing coffee would be beneficial for your cholesterol levels, there are alternatives.

If you crave caffeine, tea is a great substitute for coffee. Black tea, green tea, and yerba mate have caffeine and are beneficial for your cholesterol. Like coffee, though, it can be easy to fill your mug up with additives, so mind your milk and sugar if you switch to tea.

If you’re open to experimenting with herbal teas with no caffeine, dandelion tea is a great option for coffee lovers. It has a smooth, rich taste and is full of micronutrients that can help to lower cholesterol. Mushroom teas have also started to become popular for their earthy taste and similarity to coffee, and certain types can lower your cholesterol.

In other words, if you can’t live without your caffeine boost in the morning, you have options that won’t raise your cholesterol. In fact, some of these morning beverages can even have the opposite effect.