The healthiest way to make a cup of coffee

A new study examining the links between coffee brewing methods and the risks of heart attack and death concluded that filtered preparation is the safest. The research was published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).

Coffee is one of the most popular drinks in the world and the most commonly used stimulant. Studies and research on the impact / effect of coffee on the health of the human body have been started for 30 years now. Also about 30 years ago, Professor Dag S. Thelle of the University of Gothenburg, Sweden discovered that coffee intake was linked to high total cholesterol and “bad” LDL cholesterol, to such an extent that it was likely to have consequences. harmful to heart health.

The experiments continued, identified the culprits in the coffee and found that they could be removed with a filter. A cup of unfiltered coffee contains about 30 times the concentration of cholesterol-raising substances compared to filtered coffee.

“Our study provides strong and compelling evidence for the link between coffee brewing methods, heart attacks and longevity,” said the study’s author. “Unfiltered coffee contains substances that increase blood cholesterol. Using a filter removes them and makes heart attacks and premature death less likely. ”

Between 1985 and 2003, the study included a representative sample of the Norwegian population: 508,747 healthy men and women, aged between 20 and 79 years. Participants completed a questionnaire on the amount and type of coffee consumed. Data were also collected on variables that could influence both coffee consumption and heart disease so that they can be considered in the analysis – these are smoking, education, physical activity, height, weight, blood pressure. arterial and cholesterol. Participants were followed for an average of 20 years. A total of 46,341 participants died, 12,621 of them due to cardiovascular disease. Of the cardiovascular deaths, 6,202 were caused by a heart attack.

In general, drinking coffee is not a dangerous habit. Moreover, drinking filtered coffee has proven to be safer than abstaining from coffee. Compared to the lack of coffee, the filtered preparation was associated with a 15% lower risk of death from any cause during follow-up . For death from cardiovascular disease, the filtered infusion was associated with a 12% lower risk of death in men and a 20% lower risk of death in women compared to lack of coffee. The lowest mortality was among consumers of 1 to 4 cups of filtered coffee per day.

Professor Thelle also said: “The discovery that those who drank filtered coffee did a little better than those who did not drink at all could not be explained by any other variables, such as age, sex or lifestyle. So we think that observation is true. ”

The filtered infusion was also less risky than the unfiltered drink for any cause of death, death from cardiovascular disease or heart attack. “Our analysis shows that this was partly due to the increase in the cholesterol effect of unfiltered coffee,” said Professor Thelle.

He also stressed that these are observational data and that if the public health authorities asked for his advice, it would be: “For people who know they have high cholesterol and want to do something about it, it should stay away from unfiltered coffee making , including coffee made with a coffee maker. For everyone else, drink coffee, but never more than 4 cups of moderately concentrated coffee. ”

Source here.