Best healthy coffee

Traditional liqueur coffee has many health benefits; scientists believe it can even prolong life - with one condition: to be prepared correctly. A recent study, which investigated the link between coffee brewing methods and the risk of heart attack and death, concluded that the safest coffee is filter coffee.

Recent Studies

Given that during the COVID-19 pandemic coffee consumption increased, the researchers presented the results of a recent study, which analyzed the effects of coffee on the human body, depending on how it is prepared, and concluded that consumption Moderately filtered coffee greatly reduces the risk of mortality in cardiovascular disease.

The researchers say that the healthiest option is filter coffee, because filtration removes coffee substances that increase blood cholesterol levels and thus prevents myocardial infarction and premature death.

Globally, coffee is one of the most popular and most commonly used stimulant drinks. This habit, however, correlates with elevated levels of total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol ("bad" cholesterol) - which can damage heart health.

Harmful compounds have been identified and methods have been developed to remove them by filtration. Compared to filtered coffee, unfiltered coffee contains a concentration of about 30 times higher hyperlipemic substances.

Medicalxpress Study

According to Medicalxpress, after studying the coffee consumption habits of over half a million people in Norway for 20 years, scientists have found that, indeed, the healthiest coffee is filtered.

In the study, published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, the journal of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC), researchers examined the link between coffee brewing methods and the risk of heart attack and death.

The conclusion was that there is a strong link between the method of making coffee and longevity. Unfiltered coffee contains substances that increase "bad" cholesterol (LDL), which is known to be an important factor in stroke and myocardial infarction, and the use of a filter eliminates these substances, so that coffee is no longer a danger of growth of cholesterol.

The study took place between 1985 and 2003 and included a representative sample of the Norwegian population: 508,747 healthy people, men and women, aged between 20 and 79 years. Participants completed a questionnaire in which they noted the amount and type of coffee consumed, as well as other important variables to analyze: smoking, education, physical activity, height, weight, blood pressure and cholesterol.

Thus, 59% of the participants enrolled in the study preferred filtered coffee, 20%, unfiltered coffee, 9% of participants consumed both types of coffee, and 12% did not consume coffee at all.

By 2003, at the end of the study, approximately 46,300 participants had died. Of these, 12,621 due to cardiovascular disease (6,202, following a heart attack).

Study participant’s habits

When the researchers analyzed the participants' habits, they noticed some notable patterns. On the one hand, the habit of consuming unfiltered coffee does not increase the risk of death, compared to those who do not usually drink coffee - except for men over 60, where unfiltered coffee is clearly linked to increased cardiovascular mortality. .

On the other hand, it was observed that consumption habits changed in the 20 years of study. Thus, younger subjects, who at the beginning of the study used to consume unfiltered coffee, gradually switched to filtered coffee, thus reducing the risk of association with cardiovascular mortality, while participants who were older at the beginning of the study were less willing to change their habits.

Conclusion

According to the results, coffee consumption is not an unhealthy habit. Moreover, drinking filtered coffee is safer than not drinking coffee at all, correlating with a 15% decrease in the risk of death from any other cause, not just cardiovascular.

Also, compared to not drinking coffee at all, the consumption of filtered coffee was associated, in men, with a decrease of 12% in the risk of death from cardiovascular causes, and in women, with a decrease of 20%.

In addition, filtered coffee was associated with a lower risk of death from any cause, cardiovascular or myocardial infarction, than unfiltered coffee. Researchers say this is partly due to high cholesterol levels in unfiltered coffee.

The data provided are observational, and the recommendations of specialists are that people known to have high cholesterol should try to avoid unfiltered coffee - including that made in the coffee maker. But individuals without high cholesterol levels are also advised to opt for filtered coffee.