What’s the healthiest way to make a fresh cup of coffee? A new study examining links between coffee brewing methods and risks of heart attacks and death has concluded that filtered brew is safest.

The first study to examine links between coffee brewing methods and risks of heart attacks and death has concluded that filtered brew is safest. The research is published today in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, a journal of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).

«Our study provides strong and convincing evidence of a link between coffee brewing methods, heart attacks and longevity,» said study author Professor Dag S. Thelle of the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. «Unfiltered coffee contains substances which increase blood cholesterol. Using a filter removes these and makes heart attacks and premature death less likely.»

Coffee is one of the most popular beverages worldwide and the most frequently used stimulant. Some 30 years ago Professor Thelle discovered that drinking coffee was linked with raised total cholesterol and the «bad» LDL cholesterol — to such an extent that it was likely to have detrimental consequences for heart health. Experiments identified the culprit substances in coffee and found that they could be removed using a filter. A cup of unfiltered coffee contains about 30 times the concentration of the lipid-raising substances compared to filtered coffee.

He said: «We wondered whether this effect on cholesterol would result in more heart attacks and death from heart disease. But it was unethical to do a trial randomising people to drink coffee or not. So we set up a large population study and several decades later we are reporting the results.»

Between 1985 and 2003, the study enrolled a representative sample of the Norwegian population: 508,747 healthy men and women aged 20 to 79. Participants completed a questionnaire on the amount and type of coffee consumed. Data was also collected on variables that could influence both coffee consumption and heart diseases, so that these could be accounted for in the analysis. For example, smoking, education, physical activity, height, weight, blood pressure, and cholesterol.

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Materials provided by European Society of Cardiology. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.