Pressed coffee --- or, as it is also called, French press coffee --- is made from a simple brewing device invented in France around the late 19th century. The device brews the coffee grounds and water, then uses a coffee plunger to trap the coffee grounds at the bottom of the canister. Many people drink pressed coffee as a gourmet treat, but recent studies have shown it can raise cholesterol by a significant amount.
Pressed Coffee Machines
Unlike with most modern coffeemakers, coffee grounds in the French press remain in direct contact with the water. Only after the coffee is brewed will the mesh drain the grounds within the machine. This leaves intact most of the flavoring and oils that would otherwise be lost in the paper filter of a drip brewing device. Unfortunately, these oils can influence cholesterol levels.
Cholesterol
Cholesterol is a fatty substance that plays a critical role in production of vitamin D and steroid hormones. It is also a major part of the membrane that surrounds and protects every cell in your body. Cholesterol is absolutely essential to these processes, but buildup of cholesterol in the arteries can cause blockages and eventually lead to cardiovascular disease. There are many risk factors of cholesterol. Diet is just one component.
Coffee Oil
According to Dr. Michael J. Klag, vice dean for clinical investigation at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, cholesterol rises in response to the consumption of a type of coffee oil known as a terpene. In 2001, Klag and his colleagues reviewed more than a dozen studies and noticed that high cholesterol was associated almost exclusively with unfiltered coffee. Modern coffee machines filter out most terpenes automatically, but unfiltered coffee such as the French press variety retains the terpenes.
Cafestol
A major type of terpene known as cafestol is likely to blame for the rise in cholesterol levels, by hijacking a receptor in an intestinal pathway that regulates cholesterol. To test this hypothesis, a group of researchers from Baylor College of Medicine, who published their 2007 study in the journal "Molecular Endocrinology," found that five cups of French press coffee per day --- which amounts to 30 mg of cafestol --- over four weeks raised blood cholesterol levels 6 percent to 8 percent.
Recommendations
If you drink pressed coffee regularly, you should have your blood cholesterol checked. Unfiltered coffee has less of an effect than other factors such as smoking, weight, diet and exercise, but five or six cups a day could still mean the difference between normal cholesterol and high cholesterol. Even a cup or two can influence the amount of cholesterol in your blood. If you have high cholesterol or are at risk of it, make changes to your lifestyle. Drinking less unfiltered coffee is just one way to do that.
