Does Coffee Decrease Triglycerides?

The relationship between coffee drinking and heart health remains uncertain, despite considerable study. Drinking coffee will more likely increase than decrease your triglyceride levels. However, if you limit consumption to one or two cups per day, you probably won’t cause your heart any harm, according to the American Heart Association. The type of coffee you drink -- unfiltered or filtered -- can also make a difference in the effect on your triglyceride levels.

Triglyceride

Triglyceride, a type of fat, acts similarly to low-density lipoprotein -- LDL or “bad” cholesterol -- in your bloodstream. Both can accumulate in your arteries, making you more susceptible to heart attacks and strokes. Foods high in saturated fat, trans fat and sugar can increase your triglyceride levels. Maintaining a healthy weight and exercising regularly can lower them. If you usually drink coffee with cream and sugar, drinking it black may help lower your triglycerides. An ounce of light dairy cream contains 3.6 grams of saturated fat, 22 percent of the recommended saturated fat limit of 16 grams a day. An ounce of some type of non-dairy creamer contains 2 grams of trans fat -- a full day’s supply.

Unfiltered Coffee and Triglyceride

Two studies suggest that drinking unfiltered coffee may increase your triglyceride levels. An article published in the May 2011 issue of “Nutrition Journal” noted findings from a Singapore study. Researchers from Yong Loo Lin Medicine discovered a correlation between drinking five or more cups of unfiltered coffee daily and elevated triglycerides. The findings supported an earlier Pennsylvania State University study co-authored by I.M. Rodrigues and K.D. Klein, published in the 2006 edition of “Toxicological Reviews.”

Caffeine

It may not be the caffeine in coffee that’s harmful. N. Naidoo, lead author of the Singapore study, identified a chemical in coffee -- diterpene -- as being responsible for increasing triglyceride levels. A Kaiser Permanente study also found that caffeine is not necessarily bad for your heart. Although caffeine is a stimulant, people who drink coffee do not visit hospitals more often because of heart rhythm problems than people who don’t drink coffee, according to an April 2008 article in the “American Journal of Cardiology.” People who drank four cups of coffee a day had an 18 percent lower risk of requiring hospitalization for arrhythmia, according to lead author Arthur Klatsky, who also presented his findings at the March 2010 American Heart Association conference.

Considerations

Current evidence doesn't support the idea of either giving up coffee or drinking it in greater quantities as it relates to triglyceride levels. If your numbers put you in the high-risk category, ask your doctor whether you should change your daily coffee intake. Triglyceride levels higher than 200 milligrams per deciliter of blood increase your risk for suffering a heart attack or stroke. Numbers above 500 milligrams per deciliter put you at very high risk.