The effect of acute café latte ingestion on fasting serum lipid levels in healthy individuals.

Background: Many patients drink café latte as part of their habitual morning routine to start their day and may be unable to skip this step before drawing a fasting blood sample for cholesterol testing. However, it is unknown what the acute effects of consuming a café latte are on fasting serum lipids just before blood sampling.

Objective: This was a prospective, open-label study with the primary objective of evaluating the acute effect of a 12-oz café latte (2% milk) on calculated low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and secondary objectives of triglyceride, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), non-HDL-C, and fasting blood glucose (FBG).

Methods: A 10-hour fasting lipid profile was obtained before and 30 minutes after subjects consumed the café latte.

Results: Forty-nine adult participants (34 females; age [mean ± SD] 32.2 ± 13.2 years) were studied. No significant changes in total cholesterol, LDL-C, or non-HDL-C were observed after coffee consumption. Triglyceride significantly decreased from a median of 76.0 to 75.0 mg/dL (P = .002). HDL-C and FBG increased from a mean of 54.4 ± 12.7 to 56.4 ± 14.5 mg/dL (P = .015) and 87.2 ± 7.0 to 97.3 ± 12.9 mg/dL (P < .001), respectively.

Conclusion: Consumption of 12 oz. of café latte within one hour of blood draw did not result in a significant change in LDL-C or non-HDL-C in young, nonobese healthy individuals. However, FBG levels increased by almost 12%.