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Is decaf coffee harmful?
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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Primarily due to the increasing incidence of cardiovascular diseases over the past decade, a new trend has come into fashion - drinking decaffeinated coffee.
It is believed that nothing other than caffeine is extremely harmful to the heart, as it contributes to an increase in blood pressure. However, a small dose of caffeine does not have any pathological noticeable effect on the heart or blood vessels. But decaffeinated coffee, according to many studies, turned out to be not so useful. Such coffee has a much worse effect on the cardiovascular system than traditional coffee with caffeine. And here is the reason.
Comparatively recently, testing has shown that when drinking decaffeinated coffee, the level of free fatty acids in the blood increases by 18-20 percent, which subsequently forms the so-called bad cholesterol, which contributes to the formation of atherosclerotic plaques on the walls of blood vessels. However, ardent supporters of such coffee believe that the whole point here lies in the method of its production.
There are two ways to produce decaffeinated coffee: with water and with the help of special chemical compounds – ethyl acetate or methylene chloride solvents. However, water “safe” decaffeination (i.e. removing caffeine) is a very labor-intensive and expensive process. Although even with this method, special flavors are added to the resulting decaffeinated drink in order to give it a specific rich taste, and in fairly large quantities. So you should draw your own conclusions about which type of coffee to choose.
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