Hypertension? Drinking 2 cups of coffee a day doubles the risk of death from heart disease, a new study finds
For many people, the day doesn’t really start until they can get their first cup of coffee in their hands. In addition to giving you the morning kick you need to get going, research has also found that Java may have important health benefits in some cases. But as a powerful stimulant, there’s still plenty of reason to watch how much joe you’re putting back. And now, a new study has found that drinking just two cups of coffee a day can double the risk of death from heart disease for people with high blood pressure. Read on to see if you should wait to order your next cup.
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A new study found that drinking two cups of coffee a day doubled the risk of death from heart disease in people with severely high blood pressure.
The latest information on coffee potential health effects comes from a study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association (JAHA) on December 21. To collect data, a team of researchers used 6,574 men and 12,035 women who participated in the Japan Collaborative Cohort Study for Cancer Risk Assessment. All participants in the group were between the ages of 40 and 79 when they enrolled in the study between 1988 and 1990.
The participants were followed until 2009, during which time they self-reported their coffee and tea consumption habits and assessed their lifestyle, diet and medical history using data collected during health exams and questionnaires, according to a statement from the American Heart Association (AHA). . Blood pressure was taken at a single point during the study, allowing the team to classify each participant into one of five groups based on their readings. The categories were divided into optimal and normal at a blood pressure of 130/85; high normal at 130-139/85-89; grade 1 hypertension of 140-159/90-99; grade 2 hypertension at 160-179/100-109; and grade 3 hypertension for readings of 180/110 or higher. For the purposes of the study, anyone with a reading of 160/100 or higher was considered to have severe hypertension.
The results of the team’s analysis found that study participants in the severe hypertension category who drank two or more cups of coffee a day saw their risk of death from heart disease doubled compared to those who did not drink coffee.
The results also showed that not everyone who drank coffee or tea experienced the same increased risk.
But while the findings point to coffee consumption as a possible health problem, it wasn’t a general problem. Drinking just one cup a day did not increase the risk of cardiovascular disease-related deaths. And no amount of green tea, which is also a caffeinated beverage, was shown to affect any group.
“We were surprised that excessive coffee consumption was associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease mortality among people with severe hypertension, but not among those without hypertension or those with grade 1 hypertension.” masayuki teramoto, MD, the study author from Osaka University School of Medicine in Japan and the department of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco, told HealthDay. “In contrast, green tea consumption was not associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease mortality across all blood pressure categories.”
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Other research has found health benefits from drinking coffee.
In his press release announcing the new researchthe AHA notes that previous studies have actually found that there are some health benefits to coffee. A 2021 study published in the journal Circulation: heart failure found that an increase in coffee consumption corresponded with a decrease in the risk of heart failure. The organization also cited other investigations which found that coffee consumption could actually reduce the risk of hypertension in patients who have not yet been diagnosed with the condition.
The researchers in the latest study also noted that the elevated risk may not be related to caffeine at all given the findings with green tea. Instead, they explained that the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of the polyphenols found in the drink could be behind the correlation.
“These beneficial effects of green tea may partly explain why only coffee consumption was associated with an increased risk of mortality in people with severe hypertension, despite the fact that both green tea and coffee contain caffeine,” Teramoto told HealthDay.
The researchers concluded that people with severe hypertension might want to reconsider their coffee consumption.
Ultimately, the researchers said the study had some limitations, including that the data on coffee and tea consumption were self-reported and that no further blood pressure readings were taken to account for changes over time. The team also said more research was needed to establish a stronger link between coffee or green tea consumption and blood pressure using more diverse groups of participants. But they concluded that their findings pointed to some possible lifestyle decisions for people with high blood pressure.
“These findings may support the claim that people with severe high blood pressure should avoid excessive coffee drinking.” hiroyasu iso, MD, PhD, lead author of the study and director of the Institute for Global Health Policy Research at the National Center for Global Health and Medicine in Tokyo, said in a news release. “Because people with severe hypertension are more susceptible to the effects of caffeine, the harmful effects of caffeine may outweigh its protective effects and may increase the risk of death.”