Coffee – Good or Bad for You?

I’ve mentioned coffee so much on these pages that some of you may think I work for Starbucks. Most recently it was a positive result (coffee lowers uric acid), but there have been good and bad reports over the years.

A new report in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition describes the link between coffee drinking and the diagnosis of high blood pressure. Previous studies of the effect of coffee drinking on high blood pressure have been equivocal. In this study from Finland , 24,000 without hypertension were assessed over a 13-year period. During this time 2500 of them started antihypertensive treatment. The likelihood of being prescribed a blood pressure-lowering drug was increased in low-to-moderate coffee drinkers (two to seven 100 mL cups a day), but there was no increased likelihood in those drinking about one cup a day, or those drinking more than 8 cups a day.

The results indicate that more than one cup of coffee a day may be a factor in the development of hypertension. And it should be noted that Finland is the country with the highest intake of coffee in the world, as well as having a high rate of hypertension. However, before you give up coffee, remember it has a beneficial effect on the likelihood of developing type 2 diabetes – also discovered in Finland ! It’s a complicated affair, indeed.