KenDBerryMD - Raise Good Cholesterol with this COFFEE HACK [Raise HDL-C] - 2026

Short Summary

Main recommendation: If your HDL ("good") cholesterol is lower and triglycerides higher than expected, filter your coffee, because unfiltered brewing lets two naturally occurring compounds, cafestol and kahweol (diterpenes), raise these lipid levels in the wrong direction. According to Dr. Ken Berry, a family physician, these effects vary widely between people, and he says filtering removes roughly 98–99% of these diterpenes.

Key Points

• Dr. Berry says cafestol and kahweol are diterpenes that occur naturally in coffee, and he references multiple studies linking them to falsely low HDL and sometimes falsely elevated triglycerides.
• Unfiltered methods such as the French press, the Scandinavian boiled method, and the Turkish method let these diterpenes pass directly into the digestive system.
• Susceptibility varies along a normal distribution curve: some people could drink five gallons of unfiltered coffee daily with little effect, while others could be affected by a single cup.
• The speaker says these compounds can also raise total and LDL cholesterol, but says he is less concerned about that and focuses on HDL and triglycerides.
• The speaker says the issue is especially relevant for people on a proper human, ketogenic, ketovore, or carnivore diet whose HDL does not rise as expected.

Details Worth Noting

• The filtering effect comes mainly from the fine coffee grounds that collect at the bottom of the filter, which trap the diterpenes, not only from the filter material itself.
• The speaker suggests trying filtered coffee if your HDL and triglyceride levels have not moved as expected, but he does not guarantee results for everyone.

Bottom Line

Unfiltered coffee may be quietly lowering your HDL and raising your triglycerides, so if those numbers are not improving, switching to filtered brewing is a low-cost change to test.