15 hours Ago By Hannah Broughton
It might be a good idea to reconsider your caffeine source at work, especially if you regularly drink from your office coffee machine . According to a Swedish team of researchers, daily coffee machine drinkers could be at more risk of higher cholesterol levels and cardiovascular disease . The researchers took samples from coffee machines in workplaces and found high levels of The researchers took samples from coffee machines in workplaces and found that most of the machines contained high levels of cholesterol-elevating substances.
Highly contagious airborne disease outbreak in US sparks travel warning Dad makes friend dig own grave and kill himself after raping his daughter, six The substances cafestol and kahweol, both found in coffee beans, were discovered to be present in the machine coffee. Each of these substances has the potential to raise cholesterol levels, according to researchers from Uppsala University, in collaboration with the Chalmers University of Technology. Fourteen coffee machines in break rooms were sampled at different workplaces using five different coffee brands.
The highest concentration of the substances was found in brewing machines - the most common type of coffee machine in the workplaces studied. David Iggman, a researcher at Uppsala University in Sweden and the study’s lead author, explained, "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.” "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". Bad cholesterol is often attributed to LDL (low-density lipoprotein).
Iggman added, "For people who drink a lot of coffee every day, it’s clear that drip-filter coffee, or other well-filtered coffee, is preferable.” Interestingly, if paper filters were used to brew the coffee this was found to almost completely filter out the molecules. Iggman explained that more research was needed to determine the exact effects on cholesterol levels among consumers.
While cholesterol is found naturally in the body, it can become an issue if there’s too much of it. The chemical compound can build up in plaque in the walls of arteries causing them to become hard and narrow. High cholesterol contributes to a higher risk of cardiovascular diseases, such as heart disease and stroke, according to the American Heart Association.
The plaque that builds up from excess cholesterol can then break loose and form a blood clot, and this is what causes heart attacks and strokes. In the US, it’s thought that around 10% of adults age 20 or older have total cholesterol levels above the healthy threshold..
