Caffeine does not cause high blood pressure

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

Habitual coffee drinking does not lead to high blood pressure among women, according to a survey.
Previous studies have suggested a potential link between coffee and high blood pressure. Since coffee drinking is so widespread and high blood pressure is a risk factor for heart disease, it's important to try to confirm these findings. A team at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, has analyzed data from the Nurses' Health Studies, covering nearly 156,000 women followed for 12 years.

No link was found between coffee consumption and the development of high blood pressure. However, cola drinks did increase the risk, whether the sugared or diet versions. The researchers don't think it's the caffeine in cola that's linked to high blood pressure. It's probably some other ingredient. And we do not know, from this study, if the link is a causal one. If it were, then the implications would be considerable, because consumption of cola is widespread too. More research is therefore needed to investigate the link between cola consumption and high blood pressure.

Source
Journal of the American Medical Association 9th November 2005 Volume 294 pages 2330-2335