Coffee and Hypertension

Researchers at Harvard's Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston found, in fact, that women who drank the most coffee appeared to benefit from a protective effect.

Surprisingly, the study revealed that cola beverages with caffeine, both regular and diet, increased the risk of hypertension.

For example, women ages 26 to 46 at the start of the study who drank four or more servings of caffeinated, sugared cola a day had a 28 percent higher risk than women who drank less than one serving a month. Diet colas raised their risk by 19 percent.

With study results, released in 2005, seeming to rule out caffeine as the culprit, lead author-physician Wolfgang Winkelmayer speculated that a compound in colas may contribute to hypertension or something in coffee may protect against it.

So, the study shows - there is no coffee-hypertension link.