Coffee can not only wake you up and get you moving in the morning, but it can also offer you various health benefits. On the other hand, coffee can sometimes do more harm than good if you have high blood pressure. In fact, a new study found that for these particular people, drinking two or more cups each day can seriously increase the risk of death.
The study that was published by the Journal of the American Heart Association involved more than 18,570 participants in Japan—over 6,570 men and 12,000 women—who were all between 40 and 79 years old. During the study, each participant underwent examinations related to their health and answered questionnaires that covered any past health conditions or issues as well as their lifestyle and diet.
After follow-ups over a 19-year span, it was found that 842 participants died due to cardiovascular-related causes. Beyond that, those behind the study noted that while drinking one cup of coffee each day didn't seem to increase the risk of a cardiovascular-related death for participants who had high blood pressure, drinking two or more cups of coffee each day had a significantly different outcome. In that case, it doubled the risk of cardiovascular-related death for those who had higher blood pressure as opposed to people who didn't drink coffee.
"These findings may support the assertion that people with severe high blood pressure should avoid drinking excessive coffee," said the study's senior author Hiroyasu Iso, M.D., Ph.D., MPH, in a statement to the American Heart Association. Iso is also the director of the Institute for Global Health Policy Research, Bureau of International Health Cooperation, National Center for Global Health and Medicine in Tokyo, and a professor emeritus at Osaka University. "Becau