Getting that little buzz with your breakfast coffee may increase your blood pressure for a moment, but over time, especially for women, the caffeine has no risk for those who drink coffee on a regular basis. This comes from a recent study published in JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association, which says that caffeine-containing colas did increase the risk of hypertension among the women whether they drank diet or non-diet colas.
The goal of the study was to determine whether caffeine intake via caffeine-containing beverages like coffee and colas relates to increased risk of hypertension in women. Conducted over 12 years, (1990-1991 to 2002-2003), the participants were more than 155,000 women who demonstrated no evidence of hypertension at the start of the study. The number of cases of physician-diagnosed hypertension was a little over ten percent or 19,541 cases. However, no association between caffeinated coffee consumption and risk of incident hypertension was determined.
The study reported that there is “strong evidence to refute speculation that coffee consumption is associated with an increased risk of hypertension in women” and that while the caffeine in coffee can increase blood pressure, (incident hypertension) it does not weaken the heart over time. It is still unclear why colas affected the women differently than coffee. The researchers speculate that it may not be the caffeine but other compounds in the colas that are responsible for increased risk in hypertension.
Understanding how beverages of all types correlate to hypertension may have considerable impact on the future of public health. More than 50 million Americans currently experience some form of hypertension, a well-known precursor to coronary heart disease, stroke or congestive heart failure. This study throws another wrench into the theories that caffeine is linked to heart disease.
The study was conducted by Wolfgang C. Winkelmayer, M.D., Sc.D., of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston. Other researchers involved were Meir J. Stampfer, MD, DrPH; Walter C. Willett, MD, DrPH; Gary C. Curhan, MD, ScD; JAMA. 2005;294:2330-2335.