Updated on December 27, 2022
Although French press coffee is delicious, it could be unhealthy. Here’s all you need to know about the health risks associated with French press coffee.
How is French Press Coffee Different?
You don’t want any grounds in your coffee, unless you’re drinking Turkish coffee. They feel worse and taste worse. There are numerous strategies for keeping coffee grinds out of your brew. The easiest method is to let the grounds settle before gently pouring.
Most coffee preparation methods employ a filter of some kind. For drip and pourover coffee, paper filters are typically used, whereas metal filters are used for espresso, percolator, Moka pot, and French press. There are slight variations, but in both situations the filter eliminates the coffee grounds from the final beverage.
Why French press coffee is bad for you?
Cafestol and kahweol are the two main diterpenoids that the French press has trouble separating out. Even though they are found in very small amounts in paper-filtered coffee, their negative effects are negligible at these levels. The body struggles to control the amount of cholesterol it makes as a result of these compounds blocking cholesterol homeostasis in the intestine, which has a detrimental effect on the health of blood vessels, particularly those in and surrounding the large intestine.
Cellular activity in the human body depends on the process of cholesterol homeostasis. Damage to this system frequently results in a rise in cancer, heart disease, and other degenerative disorders. The French press has definitively increased both heart disease and blood clots, even though it hasn’t been found to be carcinogenic in and of itself. In fact, it has been discovered that people who drink more than five cups of coffee each day from a French press have harmful cholesterol levels that are 6-8% greater than those of people who use paper filters.
Additionally, these diterpenes increase triglyceride levels, a form of body fat that is stored, much more sharply. Triglycerides function as energy reserves that can be burned when hunger strikes at healthy levels. However, high amounts of these fats are linked to both heart disease and issues with the liver and pancreas.
The sobering truth is that there is a strong link between excessive French press intake and elevated blood cholesterol levels. And along with that come all of the negative effects of having too much LDL cholesterol, including a higher risk of strokes, jaw discomfort, brain blockages, and gallstones (small stones that build in the gallbladder)