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Coffee Combos: Chug ’Em or Chuck ’Em?
Are you flavoring your coffee with ingredients like butter, lemon, spices? Depending on what you add, you could be risking your health.
August 28, 2016
marekuliasz for Getty Images
2 min to read
Hairdressers are known to rely on coffee to wake up the creative brain; a little jolt of caffeine does the trick. So can you make a good thing better? You may have heard about “bulletproof coffee,” which combines coffee with grass-fed butter. People swear by it, crediting it with everything from boosting morning energy to preventing constipation. Now lemon is making the leap from tea to coffee, with proponents claiming it melts fat to hasten weight loss.
Additional ingredients you can add with some tasty satisfaction, listed at thekitchn.com, range from spices like cardamom, cinnamon and plain salt to sweetening additives like vanilla extract and ice cream. Ever think about slipping a raw egg into your coffee? You wouldn’t be the first person to try that.
Let your taste buds guide you in adding spices to your coffee, but taking a daily dose of some of those other well-intended drinks not be the best idea. Dropping even a tablespoon of butter into your coffee will start your day with a chunk of calories.
“It would be very dangerous for many people, including those with coronary artery disease and high cholesterol, to consume butter coffee on a regular basis—if at all,” says Dr. Vanessa Hagan, an internal medicine physician at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, Illinois. “While grass-fed butter is high in omega fatty acids, which is a good thing, it is also high in saturated fats.”
Hagan sees health risks in consuming “lemonade coffee,” too, because of the combined high acidity. “The number of patients I see on a weekly basis with complaints of heartburn and acid-reflux is staggering, and it’s usually due to diets high in acidity,” Hagan reports. “Drinking a combination of coffee and lemonade could be a recipe for disaster in someone who already has gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), or it can start inflammation of the esophagus in someone who doesn’t have acid-reflux yet.”
Why risk ruining a good thing, when a cup or two of coffee has been shown to be good for you? “Coffee has been studied for more than a century and claims a number of health benefits,” according to WebMD. “Your daily cup of joe may reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease and more. It also packs a powerful punch of antioxidants. In fact, Americans get more antioxidants from coffee than from any other food or beverage. With just two calories per 8-ounce cup (no cream or sugar) and no fat, coffee is a pretty guilt-free way to boost your health. But don’t overdo it. More than two or three cups daily may increase blood pressure, especially in those with borderline or high readings.”
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