October 2018

Published by Crio Bru

Lowering your carb intake is the rage and the morning drink routine is no exception. Coffee is the most popular option with 0g carbs per serving along with its boost of caffeine. Brewed cacao is also becoming a popular low carb morning drink option with its 1.5g per serving. Roasted, ground, and brewed just like coffee, brewed cacao has the flavor of pure dark chocolate and is becoming a popular alternative to coffee for its significantly lower levels of acidity and alternative energy source of theobromine. (Learn more about the brewed cacao craze here).

But why are people adding butter to their coffee or brewed cacao in the morning? What’s the fuss all about? Here are the top 4 reasons:

A cup of coffee with butter added to it changes how your body processes caffeine. Coffee has long been hailed as the “go-to” option for a caffeinated energy boost in the morning. But the new trend in adding butter to your coffee offers this same boost with a nice new twist. First, the coffee becomes frothier and more satiating causing you to pace yourself as you drink your coffee. This slower, more even intake of caffeine helps you avoid the “5 hour energy” spike you normally get when you drink your coffee fast.
Second, adding butter to coffee offers a built in “slow release” mechanism for caffeine. When you normally drink coffee, the caffeine is released immediately into you body which causes a spike and can leave you feeling jittery. When adding butter to coffee, the fat in the butter breaks down into micelles or small droplets which bind to caffeine molecules. Since fat takes longer for your body to process, the fat allows the caffeine to be released more slowly and evenly into your system. Voila! You get the energy boost from caffeine without the harsh spike and crash.
A cup of brewed cacao with butter will also slow the intake of caffeine. But because brewed cacao is 99.9% caffeine free and has only 15mg of caffeine (less than decaf) per cup, the “slow release” that you get from butter isn’t needed. However, brewed cacao offers a nice energy alternative for your mornings. Brewed cacao contains theobromine, a naturally occurring stimulant found in cacao that can be more pleasant and longer lasting than caffeine. Unlike caffeine, theobromine is not a central nervous system stimulant and therefore doesn’t typically make you feel as on edge or jittery.

Studies have shown that obese people have high proportion of the bacteria Firmicute in their system vs. thin people. Thin people also show top have a larger proportion of Bacteroidetes bacteria. Nutrition experts suggest that a wonderful weight management tool is to feed the “thin bacteria” and starve the “obese bacteria” in your body. The polyphenal antioxidants found in butter are a great food source for Bacteroidetes or “ thin bacteria” and is one important component help up by paleo and ketogenic advocates as the pathway to a healthy weight.

Brewed cacao is even higher in polyphenal antioxidants than butter and is hailed as a polyphenal super food to help you manage a healthy weight. What’s more is that cacao also acts as a natural appetite suppressant that helps curb your appetite and promotes weight loss[1]. Cacao stimulates serotonin production in the brain which helps suppress your appetite and can result in consuming less calories in the long run. So when you add butter and cacao together, you’re looking at a weight management super drink.