According to the results of a study examining the effects of various caffeine-containing products on blood pressure, coffee was not found to have an effect, while cola beverages were found to increase the risk.
While previous reports have tied caffeine intake with acute elevations in blood pressure, the long-term effects have remained unclear. To examine the effects of caffeine on blood pressure, researchers studied over 150, 000 women who participated in the Nurses' Health Studies I and II. The subjects were free of high blood pressure when the studies began in the early 1990s and were followed over 12 years.
When an analysis by beverage type was performed, habitual coffee intake was not linked to an elevated risk of high blood pressure. By contrast, drinking cola beverages, either sugared or diet, seemed to increase the risk of hypertension significantly.
Researchers state that further research is needed to examine the direct relationship between cola beverages and hypertension.
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