If you’re already on your second cup of coffee from the office coffee machine, you may want to take a moment to reconsider. While there is plenty of information out there on the benefits and concerns of drinking coffee, a new study published in Metabolism & Cardiovascular Diseases reports that specific coffee machines, typically found in the workplace, contain high amounts of a substance that can elevate the body's low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol. LDL cholesterol can lead to cardiovascular problems and may even lead to early-onset Alzheimer’s disease.
However, the study team from Uppsala University and Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden say that there is a way to prevent this from happening, and it can be as simple as changing the coffee pot.
Workplace Coffee Machines and LDL Cholesterol
For this study, the research team focused on coffee consumed in Norse workplaces, most notably Sweden, which consumes the most coffee out of all the Nordic countries. Many workplaces in Sweden (as with other parts of the world) offer its employees access to self-serve coffee stations that use unfiltered coffee machines.
While there is evidence that coffee can have health benefits, according to the researchers, there is little information on the long-term health effects of unfiltered coffee machines for employees. In the 1980s, a study from the New England Journal of Medicine found that brewing unfiltered coffee led to an increase in LDL (or “bad”) cholesterol.
Read More: Is Coffee Good for You or Not?
Raising LDL Levels
Before this study, it was known that boiled coffee contained the diterpenes cafestol and kahweol, which are considered the worst of the cholesterol-elevating substances, according to the press release. How well these coffee machines, like the ones found in an office building, filtered out these harmful diterpenes, however, was unknown.
“Considering how much coffee is consumed in Swedish workplaces, we wanted to get a picture of the content of cholesterol-elevating substances in coffee from these types of machines. We studied fourteen coffee machines and could see that the levels of these substances are much higher in coffee from these machines than from regular drip-filter coffee makers,” David Iggman, a researcher at Uppsala University and lead study author, said in a press release.
“From this, we infer that the filtering process is crucial for the presence of these cholesterol-elevating substances in coffee. Obviously, not all coffee machines manage to filter them out. But the problem varies between different types of coffee machines, and the concentrations also showed large variations over time,” he added in a press release.
Filtered Coffee Is Better
For their analysis, the research team compared boiled coffee — made in brewing machines in workplaces — with French press coffee, espresso, percolator coffee, and drip coffee (boiled coffee passed through a paper filter). They found that the drip coffee contained the least amount of diterpenes, while the boiled coffee contained the most.
The team also noted that some espresso contained higher amounts of diterpenes, but the results varied.
To combat the concern of high LDL levels, the study authors suggest switching to coffee made through a paper filter, as it seems to remove the most diterpenes.
“Most of the coffee samples contained levels that could feasibly affect the levels of LDL cholesterol of people who drank the coffee, as well as their future risk of cardiovascular disease,” Iggman said in a press release.
“For people who drink a lot of coffee every day, it’s clear that drip-filter coffee, or other well-filtered coffee, is preferable. To determine the precise effects on LDL cholesterol levels, we would need to conduct a controlled study of subjects who would drink the coffee,” he concluded in a press release.
This article is not offering medical advice and should be used for informational purposes only.
Read More: High Levels of ‘Bad’ Cholesterol Tied to Early-Onset Alzheimer’s
Article Sources
Our writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:
Metabolism & Cardiovascular Diseases. Cafestol and kahweol concentrations in workplace machine coffee compared with conventional brewing methods
World Population Review. Coffee Consumption by Country 2025
New England Journal of Medicine. The Tromsø heart study. Does coffee raise serum cholesterol?
Science Direct. Diterpene
A graduate of UW-Whitewater, Monica Cull wrote for several organizations, including one that focused on bees and the natural world, before coming to Discover Magazine. Her current work also appears on her travel blog and Common State Magazine. Her love of science came from watching PBS shows as a kid with her mom and spending too much time binging Doctor Who.
