'Bulletproof Coffee' Trend For 'Paleo' Dieters

You butter your toast; you put milk in your coffee. Ever been curious about what these two would taste like together?

"Bulletproof coffee" is a new trend that is gaining popularity within the "paleo" diet community, people who follow a caveman-type eating style containing mostly animal proteins and fats. The recipe for the drink calls for a couple of tablespoons of unsalted, grass-fed butter and a coconut-palm oil blend called medium chain triglycerides (MCT). This combination supposedly boosts energy, promotes weight loss, and increases brainpower. It also cuts out some of the bitter flavor from the coffee itself. One cup contains 100-200 calories, depending on the amount of butter added.

Madelyn Fernstorm, diet and nutrition editor for NBC's Today Show, says that the crazy-sounding combination is actually an ancient tradition in some parts of the world. Butter is, in fact, similar to cream, an ingredient in which many coffee drinkers indulge.

Though it claims to help shed pounds, the recipe may promote weight gain if it is consumed daily, says Fernstorm. The idea that the drink will rev you up is probably psychosomatic; there is no proof that the body's fast digestion of MCT (as opposed to other fats) is an energy booster.

So, in the end, this butter-coffee potion may not be harmful for you to consume, but as Savannah Guthrie, Matt Lauer, and Natalie Morales can testify, the taste may deter you from letting it hinder your diet.