Drinking 2 or more cups of coffee everyday doubles the risk of death due to heart disease among those who are severely hypertensive, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.¹

A total of 18,609 people from the Japan Collaborative Cohort Study for Evaluation of Cancer Risk were included in this study. They were enrolled between 1988 and 1990 and their ages at the time of recruitment ranged from 40 to 79 years. The study objective was to examine the impact of self-reported coffee and green tea intake on mortality due to heart disease among participants with severe hypertension. Depending on the BP, the participants were categorized into four groups: optimal and normal BP, high-normal BP, grade 1 hypertension and grade 2-3 hypertension.

The participants were followed up for a median duration of 18.9 years; during this period, 842 CVD deaths occurred. Coffee drinkers who had grade 2-3 hypertension were at a higher risk of cardiac-related mortality. Compared to those who did not drink coffee, the risk increased 2-folds among those who drank ≥2 cups of coffee daily with hazard ratio (HR) of 2.05. The HR for <1 cup/day was 0.98. No such association was observed among participants with optimal and normal, high-normal BP and grade 1 hypertension. In contrast, consumption of green tea did not increase the risk of cardiovascular disease in any BP category.

This study shows that drinking too much coffee every day increases the risk of death due to cardiovascular disease particularly among those who are severely hypertensive. However, intake of green tea did not increase the risk of cardiovascular mortality.

Reference

1. Masayuki Teramoto, et al. Coffee and green tea consumption and cardiovascular disease mortality among people with and without hypertension. J Am Heart Assoc. 2023 Jan 17;12(2):e026477. doi: 10.1161/JAHA.122.026477.