Instant coffee is the most commonly consumed type of coffee in the UK, but experts warn that drinking too much could increase the risk of some types of cancer.
That’s because the popular caffeinated drink contains twice as much acrylamide as ground coffee, a chemical produced when foods, including coffee beans, are cooked at high temperatures.
It has been declared a “problematic human carcinogen” by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), meaning there is evidence that the chemical can cause cancer in humans.
Laboratory tests revealed that dietary acrylamide causes lung and reproductive cancers in animals, and scientists agree that it has the potential to cause cancer in humans as well, according to the Food Standards Agency (FSA).
A Polish from 2013. studywhich analyzed 42 coffee samples, including 11 instant coffees, revealed that instant coffee had twice as much acrylamide as freshly ground coffee.
However, according to researchers from McGill University in Canada.
While instant coffee contains acrylamide, it also has more antioxidants than ground coffee, which protects against cell damage.
said Dr. Pál Maurovich-Horvat, director of medical imaging at Semmelweis University in Budapest. The telegraph That instant coffee contains melanoidins, an antioxidant that increases the diversity of bacteria in the gut and may also help protect against disease.
Experts reveal healthy ways to make your morning drink with research showing the drink can improve brain, heart and gut health.
Acrylamide, found in higher doses in instant coffee, has been declared a “problematic human carcinogen” by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), meaning there is evidence that the chemical can cause cancer in humans.
However, filtered coffee and espressos are believed to be some of the healthiest ways to prepare your morning beverage.
Filter coffee, made by passing ground beans and hot water through a paper or metal mesh filter, has been found to help reduce rates of arterial disease, which is the most common cause of heart attacks.
That is according to researchers in norway who studied the coffee habits of 500,000 people over two decades and found that drinking four cups of filtered coffee a day will help you reap these heart health benefits.
Espresso-based coffees, including cappuccinos, lattes, and flat whites, are believed to be beneficial for our brains and are linked to a reduced risk of Alzheimer’s.
An Italian 2023 study Espresso extracts were found to reduce the buildup of the toxic protein called tau, which fuels dementia, when mixed with brain samples in petri dishes.
Research has also shown that caffeine decreases amyloid buildup and reduces inflammation and cell death in the brain, which may reduce the risk of dementia.
But the Alzheimer’s Society explains that this has only been shown in mice and not humans, meaning the connection is not yet certain.