Drinking filter coffee is better for your heart than stove top and French press — and it's even better than no coffee at all, study says

• The healthiest way to brew your coffee involves a filter, according to a recent study in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology.
• According to the study, unfiltered coffee can contain substances that increase blood cholesterol.
• Using a filter removes the particles and makes heart attacks and even premature death less likely.
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Coffee has long been linked to good heart health, but a new study has parsed out which kind of brew is best for your cardivascular health.

According to a recent study in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, people who drink filter coffee have a lower risk of premature death from heart attack or stroke.

Those who drank filtered coffee had a 15% less chance of premature death and 12% decreased risk in cardiovascular disease in men and a 20% decrease in cardiovascular disease in women. People who drank one to four cups of unfiltered coffee a day reported the lowest rates of mortality.

The researchers said this may be because unfiltered coffee contains higher amounts of cafestol and kahweol, which can raise triglyceride and levels of LDL ("good" cholesterol).

"Unfiltered coffee contains substances which increase blood cholesterol. Using a filter removes these and makes heart attacks and premature death less likely," Dag Thelle, a senior professor in the public health and community medicine department of the University of Gothenburg who led the research, said.

"Our study provides strong and convincing evidence of a link between coffee brewing methods, heart attacks and longevity."

Filter was found to be better than stove-top, French press, and no coffee at all

The researchers analyzed the coffee-drinking habits and health of over half a million people between the ages of 20 and 79 over a 20-year period.

The results found that drinking unfiltered coffee — that includes stove-top coffee and French press — raised the risk of cardiovascular death in men over 60.

People who drank one to four cups of filtered coffee a day even had better heart health than those who drank no coffee at all, which the researchers have again put down to the heart-boosting properties in filtered coffee.

"The finding that those drinking the filtered beverage did a little better than those not drinking coffee at all could not be explained by any other variable such as age, gender or lifestyle habits. So we think this observation is true," Thelle said.

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