Scandinavian researchers followed the coffee consuming habits of more than half a million people over a span of 20 years and determined that those who drank filtered coffee were less likely to die from cardiovascular disease (CVD) than those who preferred unfiltered versions of the beverage. Past research has shown that this is because filters remove significant amounts of the two chemical compounds found in coffee that are known to raise lipid levels. In fact, the concentrations of these two compounds are around 30 times higher in a cup of unfiltered coffee compared with filtered brew. The new study, published in April 2020 in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, used self-reported data collected from almost 509,000 Norwegian men and women ages 20–79 years old over an average span of two decades. The survey included questions about lifestyle habits related to heart health, blood pressure, heart disease history, the amount of coffee a person drank, and their preferred brewing method. Aage Tverdal, PhD,, a senior researcher at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health who coauthored the study, says that his team was able to weed out any potentially misleading results presumed to be linked to coffee, but which were actually caused by another habit or health factor. “We took lifestyle factors, such as smoking and the amount of physical activity a person gets, into account as well as age,” says Tverdal. The research began three decades ago after Dag S. Thelle, MD, PhD, a professor emeritus of medicine and epidemiology at the University of Oslo in Norway and Gothenburg University in Sweden and a coauthor of the new study, was part of an initial study, published in 1983 in the New England Journal of Medicine, which found that Norwegians who drank coffee had much higher levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, the kind that leads to heart disease. “One major finding was a high total cholesterol level, and one research question was why that level differed within a single country,” says Dr. Thelle. “A number of dietary variables and other factors were assessed, and coffee came out as the major contributor.” Because the findings could not be replicated elsewhere, Thelle and other researchers suspected the variation in cholesterol levels had to do with brewing methods, since both drip brew and boiling grounds in water, sans filter, were popular brewing methods in Norway. RELATED: Optimism Tied to Reduction in Cardiovascular Disease Risk
Jury’s Still Out on How Much Coffee Is Healthy
Esther Lopez-Garcia, PharmD, MPH, PhD, an associate professor of preventive medicine and public health at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, who was not involved in the study, says the amount of coffee a person drinks plays a huge role in its health benefits, which include everything from speeding up metabolism to protecting against Alzheimer’s disease. The new study found that people who averaged one to four cups of filtered coffee a day had the lowest rates of mortality overall, whereas those who drank nine or more cups of coffee per day had a nearly 10 percent greater risk of dying from coronary heart disease. Still, the jury seems to be out on just how much coffee is healthy. A study published in 2018 in JAMA Internal Medicine, which focused on the impact of the caffeine in coffee, determined that people who drank just one cup of coffee a day had an 8 percent lower risk of early death, while those who drank eight or more cups a day lowered their risk by 14 percent. “People with certain health concerns, such as uncontrolled hypertension, insomnia, anxiety, gastroesophageal reflux, or cardiac arrhythmias, should seek individual medical advice about how much coffee is healthy for them,” says Dr. Lopez-Garcia. According to Thelle, people should avoid drinking unfiltered coffee if they struggle with high LDL cholesterol levels. “Otherwise, coffee is not harmful with regard to your heart health. But as always, in moderation,” he says.
