Coffee and High Blood Pressure

Summarized by Robert W. Griffith, MD
May 3, 2007

Summary

In a large Dutch 11-year cohort study, low-consumption coffee drinkers (1-3 cups a day) had a higher rate of hypertension than abstainers, and, in women, than those drinking 6 cups a day or more.

Introduction

Many studies have been done to try and determine whether coffee consumption causes high blood pressure, but the results have been inconsistent. Some studies show a positive relationship (i.e. coffee drinking is linked to high blood pressure), some show no relationship, and some show an inverse relationship (i.e. coffee lowers blood pressure). To help in reaching a definite conclusion, researchers in the Netherlands have conducted a long-term cohort study (this is where a group of subjects are studied from a baseline point for a number of years). The relationship of baseline coffee intake to the occurrence of persistent high blood pressure was studied, using repeatedly measured pressures at 5 year intervals over 11 years. The results are published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, and summarized below.

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