If your morning cup of joe is the only thing motivating you to get to work on time, we’ve got some brew-tal news.
A new study out of Sweden suggests your office java may be a latte trouble for your heart.
Researchers analyzed coffee samples from 14 workplace machines and found that office coffee may contain higher levels of cafestol and kahweol — compounds known to elevate LDL cholesterol — compared to coffee prepared elsewhere.
“The filtering process is crucial for the presence of these cholesterol-elevating substances in coffee,” said David Iggman, a researcher at Uppsala University who led the study.
“Obviously, not all coffee machines manage to filter them out,” he continued. “But the problem varies between different types of coffee machines, and the concentrations also showed large variations over time.”
Of the 14 machines tested, 11 were brewing machines and three were liquid-model machines.
The researchers brewed medium and dark roasts of five common brands of ground coffee. Two coffee samples were taken from each machine every two to three weeks.
While paper filters seem to be effective at keeping these harmful compounds — cafestol and kahweol — out of your brew, the metal filters commonly found in office machines seem to let them slip by.
For reference, at-home methods such as French press and percolated coffee showed lower levels of these compounds, while espresso was all over the map.
We’ve known since the 1980s that unfiltered coffee is more likely to raise “bad” cholesterol levels compared to filtered coffee, instant coffee and coffee pods.
High LDL cholesterol is a significant risk factor for cardiovascular disease, with the Swedish researchers noting that a reduction of 1 millimoles per liter of LDL cholesterol can lead to a 22% relative risk reduction in heart disease.
That translates to a 54% decrease in risk over 40 years — the standard period of employment.
Coffee is known to have several health benefits, as research has shown it can potentially reduce your risk of cancer and dementia and might even help you lose weight.
A recent study even indicates that drinking two or three cups of coffee in the morning might substantially lower your risk of premature death compared to no coffee at all.
But coffee can also make your anxiety and blood pressure spike — both are bad for heart health.
One 2024 study found consuming over 400 milligrams of caffeine a day — which translates to roughly a venti-size coffee at Starbucks — can increase the risk of cardiovascular disease in otherwise healthy adults.
