More on coffee: Cola, not coffee, raises blood pressure

Content provided by the Faculty of the Harvard Medical School

More on coffee: Cola, not coffee, raises blood pressure

More on coffee

Cola, not coffee, raises blood pressure

“I love coffee; I love tea; I love the java jive, and it loves me. …” Most “caf-fiends” can identify with the lighthearted “Java Jive.” But many people have serious concerns about caffeinated coffee. One worry is high blood pressure. We know that a cup of coffee can temporarily boost blood pressure, but does a regular coffee habit cause a chronic condition?

Caffeinated coffee actually confers some benefits, lowering the risk for diabetes, colon cancer, gallstones, and Parkinson’s disease, and improving cognitive function and physical endurance. A November 2005 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) continues the good news — concluding that there’s no link between coffee and hypertension. But the news isn’t all good. Cola drinkers, listen up.

The JAMA study — by researchers at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health — drew on data from the Nurses’ Health Study, which has tracked the health and habits of more than 200,000 registered nurses since 1976. The researchers used food frequency questionnaires and medical reports to analyze the relationship between caffeine intake and the development of hypertension over a 12-year period. They found no link between coffee drinking (caffeinated or decaffeinated) and hypertension in women who didn’t have the condition at the start of the study. For tea drinkers, there was a slightly increased risk only among younger participants (age 26–46 at the start of the study). The truly surprising results were for cola drinkers.

Women who drank the most colas — four cans or more per day, sugared or diet — increased their risk of high blood pressure by 16%–44%. (Sugar-free colas were somewhat less of a problem, but both elevated risk.) The authors couldn’t explain why colas would have this effect, although they noted such drinks contain caramel coloring “rich in advanced glycation end products,” or AGEs.

AGEs are unstable compounds that can result from the cooking, heating, or oxidation of carbohydrates. They’ve been linked to several chronic conditions, and some research suggests they may play a role in hypertension. But the authors of the JAMA study caution that it’s too early to make any recommendations about cola-drinking and hypertension.

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Last updated:	August 21, 2006

Medical content reviewed by the Faculty of the Harvard Medical School. Harvard Health Publications, Copyright © 2007 by President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved. Used with permission of StayWell.

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