Avoid coffee if your blood pressure is sky high; drinking two or more cups a day doubles your chances of dying from heart disease.
Those at risk had ‘severe’ hypertension, categorised as a reading that’s 160/100 mm Hg or higher, say researchers from Osaka University in Japan.
The risk seems to be in drinking two or more cups of coffee a day. Earlier research found that drinking one cup a day lowers the risk of dying following a heart attack and could reduce the risk of heart disease in healthy people.
Coffee could also lower the risk of depression and reduce the risk of chronic health problems such as type 2 diabetes.
But if you’ve got high blood pressure and you can’t live without coffee, just have one cup a day before switching to tea. Although both contain caffeine, green and black tea have just half the caffeine of coffee. Tea also contains polyphenols, micronutrients with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory qualities that can protect the cardiovascular system.
The researchers analysed data from 6,570 men and around 12,000 women aged between 40 and 79.
According to the American Heart Association, hypertension is a blood pressure level of 130/80 mm Hg (millimetres of mercury) or greater.
Journal of the American Heart Association, 2022; doi: 10.1161/JAHA.122.026477
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