What's bulletproof coffee? New age diet or alchemist's potion?

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Since about 2013, there has been a coffee that claims to help you lose weight, improve mental and physical performance, and help raise IQ. It has been popular around the world for some time since it was widely promoted in American celebrity circles, and this high-fat, high-calorie drink is called Bulletproof Coffee.

Bulletproof Coffee

Dave Asprey, founder of Bulletproof Coffee © bulletproof. com

Inspired by Xizang butter tea

The coffee was developed by Dave Asprey, a former Silicon Valley computer engineer and biohacker. He went to Nepal and Xizang in 2004. After spending time at high altitudes, he felt very tired and weak, but after drinking butter tea, he said: "I am refreshed and full of energy. I am no longer suffering from altitude sickness." I realized that there must be something magical about this drink." After returning to the United States, he spent several years researching and applying this method to coffee, which changed his life. He created the Bulletproof Coffee brand while still Vice President of Cloud Security at Trend Micro, and published the recipe and health benefits of the coffee on his website and blog, claiming that he lost more than 100 pounds (about 45 kilograms) because of the coffee instead of meals, increased his IQ by 20 points, and lowered his biological age by sleeping more efficiently.

Xizang butter tea

Bulletproof coffee is basically a low-toxicity coffee with one to two tablespoons of salt-free grass-fed cream, and one to two teaspoons of medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs) or organic coconut oil, put into a blender and beaten like latte, creamy coffee. After publishing this coffee in 2009, Asprey was very active in promoting this drink through various Social networks. He suggested that people replace breakfast with such a cup of fat rich drink with more than 460 calories, and promised people that this drink would make you feel full. In the prime time of fat burning in the morning, by banning the intake of sugar and protein, he forced his body to burn fat as energy for the body. The effect of weight loss can be effectively achieved.

The Three Elements of Bulletproof Coffee

Founder Dave Asprey personally demonstrates how bulletproof coffee is brewed:

Celebrity media fuelled the craze

Worried that bulletproof coffee might taste a little gross? In fact, fans of the coffee say it tastes no different than a creamy latte. American film star Sheryl Woodley Shailene Woodley tweeted about the coffee in 2013.("I am convinced bulletproof coffee may be one of the greatest human inventions"); Jimmy Fallon Jimmy Fallon on his show with Maya Rudolph. Maya Rudolph talks about the benefits of the coffee; Silicon Valley executives, including Trinity Venture partner Dan Scholnick, are even addicted to it, and must bring full coffee equipment (beans, grinders, coffee makers, and electric milk brewers), butter (Sonic freezes overnight), and medium-chain triglycerides when they travel. "I made bulletproof coffee at thirty thousand feet." Sonic said he also noted that medium-chain triglycerides should be "less than three ounces." Sonic even invited Asprey to speak to 50 senior people at Trinity Investments. "He's been the biggest influence on my life for the last five years." Sonic said.

Shailene Woodley publicly praised bulletproof coffee on Twitter.

Jimmy Fallon talks bulletproof coffee with Maya Rudolph during break time at The Tonight Show

Celebrities from entertainment circles including Harry Styles of One Direction to the Los Angeles Lakers in sports should have helped Bulletproof Coffee win fans.

Harry Styles publicly praised Bulletproof Coffee on Twitter.

At present, in addition to online sales, bulletproof coffee has more than 400 retail outlets in the United States and Canada, mainly distributed in supermarkets and coffee shops. Bulletproof Coffee opened its first branch in Santa Monica, California, in 2015, and a second branch in Los Angeles has also opened. Asprey said the goal is to get to Starbucks size.

Dave Asprey (left) and employees at Bulletproof Coffee Santa Monica.

Controversial bulletproof diet

In addition to bulletproof coffee, Asprey has expanded this concept into a "bulletproof diet", advocating a "high fat, high vegetable, medium protein, low toxicity, low starch diet" that aims to get 50-70% of calories from healthy fats, 20% from protein, 20% from vegetables, and another 5% from fruits or starches.

Despite its overwhelming popularity in celebrity fashion circles and among the public, bulletproof diets have been widely criticized in professional and academic circles. Michael D. Estries, editor of Mother Nature Network, describes Bulletproof eating as gaining "solid celebrity adoration, a rapidly growing following, and a huge book hype" and believes it is "the biggest eating fad of 2015."

Julia Belluz, editor of Vox New Media, criticized Bulletproof Diet's book as a "caricature of the bad eating trend" because many of its arguments have no scientific evidence, or are based on research that conceals some facts, only to lead consumers to buy their products. Belluz also specifically argues that Aspire is wrong in claiming that dietary changes can improve inflammation and help weight loss, because Aspire deliberately ignores controversial studies on the health effects of certain foods and improperly infers that certain studies on animals, small populations, or patients with specific diseases can be applied to all humans.

"It also puts a lot of fat in the body, which raises harmful cholesterol levels," said Dr. Walter Willet, director of nutrition at Harvard Medical School. Christopher Gardner, a nutritionist at Stanford University School of Medicine, said that this method of losing weight with saturated fat worked for founder Asprey, but it may not work for everyone. Recently, The British Dietetic Association also listed bulletproof eating as an unhealthy way of eating that is not recommended.

Bulletproof diet vision

Biohacking plus the pursuit of everything fast lifestyle makes bulletproof coffee popular

The success of bulletproof coffee lies in convenience and speed. Coffee has an inherent refreshing effect, which helps to improve work efficiency. Combined with another weight-loss trend of replacing meals with fat, it is hard to be unpopular in a fast-paced modern society.

Another background factor for bulletproof coffee's popularity is the so-called "biohacking", which means that some non-professional and non-academic people manage their physiological functions by virtue of their self-taught bioscience knowledge and some professional or self-made equipment, just like some computer hackers who can crack server defense lines. However, the meaning of the word hack is not to destroy but to crack. Emphasize that these non-professionals use their own methods to analyze some of the knowledge and principles of biology.

Asprey himself is a self-taught Biohacker for many years. Coupled with his experience in Xizang, he advocates the use of butter and various oils as a diet to control weight and other functions of the human body, which is a kind of Biohacking. The spread of knowledge in the Internet age has blurred the boundaries between professional fields and amateurs. As long as you are interested in research, everyone has the opportunity to be an expert.

As for whether bulletproof coffee can actually help you lose weight, we can only say that it is worth trying, but there is no guarantee that it will work for everyone.