Top expert reveals the type of coffee that’s linked to cancer – and the one that’s the healthiest for you

Instant coffee is the most commonly consumed type of coffee in the UK, but experts warn drinking too much could increase your risk of some types of cancer.

That’s because the popular caffeinated drink contains twice as much acrylamide than ground coffee — a chemical substance produced when food, including coffee beans, is cooked at high temperatures.

It’s been declared as a ‘problem human carcinogen’ by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), meaning there is evidence the chemical can cause cancer in humans.

Laboratory tests revealed acrylamide in the diet 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).

One 2013 Polish study, which analysed 42 samples of coffee, including 11 instant coffees, revealed instant coffee had double the amount of acrylamide than freshly ground coffee.

However, you would need to drink about 10 cups of instant coffee a day for your intake of acrylamide to become a concern, according to researchers at McGill University in Canada.

While instant coffee does contain acrylamide, it also has more antioxidants than ground coffee, which protects against cell damage. 

Dr Pál Maurovich-Horvat, the director of medical imaging at Semmelweis University in Budapest told The Telegraph that instant coffee contains melanoidins, an antioxidant that increases the diversity of bacteria in your gut which can also help protect against disease. 

However, filter coffee and espressos are thought to be some of the healthiest forms of your morning brew.  

Filtered coffee — which is made by passing ground beans and hot water through a paper or mesh metal filter — has been found to contribute to lower rates of artery disease, which is the most common cause of heart attacks. 

That’s according to researchers in Norway who studied the coffee habits of 500,000 people over two decades and discovered drinking four cups of filter coffee a day will help you reap these heart health benefits.

Espresso-based coffees, which includes cappuccinos, lattes and flat whites, are thought to be beneficial to our brains and are linked to a reduced risk of Alzheimer’s. 

One 2023 Italian study found extracts of espresso reduced the build-up of the toxic protein called tau — which fuels dementia — when mixed with brain samples in petri dishes. 

Research has also shown that caffeine decreases the build-up of amyloid and reduces inflammation and cell death in the brain, which may reduce dementia risk.

But Alzheimer’s Society explains this has only been proven in mice and not humans, meaning the connection still is not certain.