Filter coffee is GOOD for you: Study shows people who drink up to four cups a day are 15 per cent less likely to die from a heart attack
- Experts studied the coffee habits of more than 500,000 adults over 20 years
- They found that filter is coffee best for healthy hearts and lowering cholesterol
- In fact, the team report that filter coffee is better for you than no coffee at all
- The filter helps by removing the oily components that help to raise cholesterol
Filter coffee can cut risk of heart attack, with its drinkers being 15 per cent less likely to die from the condition, a study has concluded.
Preparing your morning brew using a filter-based approached is best to avoid heart problems and lower cholesterol — and is better for you than not drinking any coffee.
When coffee is poured through a filter, the oily components that can raise cholesterol and lead to health complications are removed.
Scroll down for video
Filter coffee can cut risk of heart attack, with its drinkers being 15 per cent less likely to die from the condition, a study has concluded
Previous studies have shown coffee consumption to be linked to so-called ‘bad’ cholesterol — and be potentially detrimental to the health of one’s heart.
Further research revealed the substances in coffee responsible for this effect can be removed simply by using a filter.
In fact, a cup of filtered coffee contains around a 30 times lower concentration of fatty lipid-raising substances in comparison with unfiltered coffee.
In the new study, European researchers looked at the relationship between different methods of brewing coffee and risk of heart attack and death.
More than 500,000 healthy men and women aged 20–79 recorded the amount and type of coffee they drank, for an average of 20 years.
They also recorded other factors that could influence heart health — such as smoking, physical activity, blood pressure and cholesterol.
The team’s analysis revealed that drinking coffee is not a dangerous habit in and of itself — but drinking filtered coffee was safer than no coffee at all.
Filtered brew was linked to a 15 per cent reduced risk of death from any cause — regardless of age, gender or any lifestyle choices.
The risk of death from heart disease, specifically, was lowed by 20 per cent in women and 12 per cent in men who drank filtered coffee.
Furthermore, people who drank between one and four cups of filtered coffee a day had the lowest mortality levels.
Unfiltered coffee did not raise the risk of death compared to no coffee at all — with the exception of with men aged 60 and over, where it was linked to an increased chance of cardiovascular death.
Preparing your morning brew using a filter-based approached is best to avoid heart problems and lower cholesterol — and is better for you than not drinking coffee. When coffee is poured through a filter, the oily components that can raise cholesterol are removed
‘Our study provides strong and convincing evidence of a link between coffee brewing methods, heart attacks and longevity,’ said paper author and epidemiologist Dag Thelle, of the University of Gothenburg in Sweden.
Professor Thelle recommends switching to filtered coffee, especially if you are concerned about high cholesterol.
‘For people who know they have high cholesterol levels and want to do something about it, stay away from unfiltered brew,’ he said — noting that this would include coffee made with a cafetière, or French press.
‘For everyone else, drink your coffee with a clear conscience and go for filtered.’
The full findings of the study were published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology.