The danger

Al-Marsad newspaper: A team of scientists from Japan’s Osaka University has found that drinking coffee doubles the risk of death for people with a sharp increase in blood pressure level.

The Journal of the American Heart Association notes that previous studies have shown that drinking one cup of coffee a day increases the likelihood of survival after a heart attack and also prevents healthy people from having a heart attack and stroke. The results of other studies have also shown that drinking coffee regularly helps reduce the risk of chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes and some cancers. But at the same time, consuming a large amount of coffee leads to high blood pressure, anxiety, and heartbeat and sleep disturbances.

But the researchers focused their attention in this study, involving more than 6,570 men and more than 12,000 women, aged 40 to 79, on the level of effect of coffee and green tea on people with different levels of hypertension, as they divided their blood pressure into five categories: blood pressure normal (below 130/85 mm Hg), elevated within normal limits (130-139/85-89 mm Hg), grade I hypertension (140-159 /90-99 mm Hg, grade II) (160-179 / 100-109 mm Hg) and third degree (more than 110/180 mm Hg), and considered the last two categories as a case of acute hypertension.

The researchers took data on the results of medical tests and information provided by each participant in a questionnaire that assessed lifestyle, diet, history and course of diagnosis of the disease. During 19 years of follow-up, 842 participants died of cardiovascular disease.

The results of the analysis of these data showed that drinking two or more cups of coffee a day doubles the risk of death for people with high blood pressure of 100/160 mm Hg or higher due to cardiovascular disease, compared to people who they don’t drink coffee. It has also been found that consuming one cup of coffee or green tea a day does not increase the risk of developing any category of blood pressure.

According to the researchers, these findings indicate that those with high blood pressure should monitor their coffee intake. Because the harms of caffeine can outweigh its positive effect. As for green tea, it contains polyphenols, which are important antioxidants.