Dave Asprey of Bulletproof coffee fame encourages the use of organic coffee grown at high elevation and shade dried. Reduces mycotoxins he says (although my research on the subjects suggests mycotoxins aren't a big problem w/ coffee), but wouldn't organically grown coffee also eliminate/reduce heavy metal contamination?
What was eye-opening to me is a few of Dr. Greger's videos reviewing research that indicates that the roast level (light/medium/dark) and filtration process (metal mesh, paper) affects the amount of antioxidants and LDL absorbed by the body. Hadn't considered that coffee can impact cholesterol. Wrote about it in a piece entitled, Why the Most Healthy Coffee Is Without Milk.
From what I understand, the trick to limiting the mycotoxins is via washing + mechanical-drying vs the "natural" method, where you esesntually just spread the beans out on a big tarp under the sun. "Organic" doesn't really mean anything when it comes to mycotoxins / heavy metals -- it really just refers to the class of chemical additives rather than the quality of the end product.
I'm reminded of the recent analysis of Vega protein, where it's Organic / NSF-certified, but not all that clean. https://www.cleanlab...l-in-one-shake/
Where you can also find non-organic whey protein, and it's exceptionally clean. https://www.cleanlab...0-whey-protein/
It is interesting when you think about end points rather than single biomarkers -- like LDL is essentially a surrogate for trying to measure LDL-P. And when you measure LDL-P, you're really trying to get to the heart of measuring small dense LDL-P. But even those are really only an issue when you're looking at oxidized small dense LDL particles (which you can actually measure directly)... and that subset which is delivered into an arterial wall resulting in an inflammatory cascade of events... and that's really not an issue until you reach cardiovascular complications from having run this cycle some excess amount of times over a lifespan. So looking at LDL is so far removed from what you're actually trying to measure, it doesn't really tell you how you should try to live your life to modify cardiovascular risk, which is what you're actually trying to do. So while you could look at coffee consumption and some small impact on the the weight of the LDL cholesterol, it probably makes more sense to look at cardiovascular complications -- interestingly, there's a much larger dose-dependant inverse relationship, all way into the 3-5 cup per day range.
Even when thinking about cardiovascular disease, you're ultimately trying to quantify your risk of death. Here's a study looking at all-cause mortality and coffee intake: https://www.ncbi.nlm...pubmed/25156996 -- thinking about LDL seems so short-sighted in the grand scheme of things.
That said, it does raise the question of -- how do I best choose / prepare coffee + chocolate to maximize my enjoyment and benefit while limiting the potential for harm?
Edited by brosci, 28 October 2018 - 10:05 PM.
