Mumbai: For many, office coffee is a daily essential. But a new study suggests it could be raising your cholesterol levels too.
Researchers from Uppsala University and Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden found that coffee from workplace machines contains higher levels of cholesterol-raising compounds than regular filter coffee.
The study, published in Nutrition, Metabolism & Cardiovascular Diseases, highlights how brewing methods affect these compounds.
What’s in Your Coffee?
The main culprits are diterpenes, specifically cafestol and kahweol. These natural coffee compounds can increase LDL (bad) cholesterol. High LDL cholesterol is linked to heart disease and stroke.
Boiled coffee has the highest levels of diterpenes. Drip-filter coffee, which uses a paper filter, removes most of them. Workplace machines, espresso, and French press fall somewhere in between.
What Did the Study Find?
Researchers tested coffee from different workplace machines using five brands of ground coffee.
They discovered:
Machine-brewed coffee contains 176 mg of cafestol per litre—nearly 15 times more than paper-filtered coffee (12 mg/L).
Drinking three or more cups daily could unknowingly raise LDL cholesterol over time.
Should You Be Worried?
If you drink a lot of coffee, your brewing method matters.
Lead researcher David Iggman suggested switching to well-filtered coffee for better heart health.
“To determine the precise effects on LDL cholesterol, we need a controlled study,” he said.
For now, choosing drip-filtered coffee might be a simple way to reduce risk.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Observer Odisha staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
