No evidence coffee ups risk of high blood pressure

(Reuters) — Despite earlier concerns, downing lots of coffee doesn’t seem to increase the risk of high blood pressure, according to a new report — but the evidence isn’t conclusive.

High blood pressure has been linked to heart disease, stroke, and a shorter life expectancy, and some scientists have suggested that coffee might fuel the problem.

The new report pools data from six previous studies that included more than 170,000 people in total. For each study, scientists surveyed the participants to find out how many cups of coffee they drank each day — from less than one to more than five — and then followed them for up to 33 years.

Just more than one in five participants eventually developed high blood pressure, according to the findings, which appear in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

But the chance of being diagnosed with the condition was no different between people who said they chugged more than five cups of coffee per day and those who drank very little.

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