Here’s good news for women who love coffee: Drinking it doesn’t seem to cause long-term high blood pressure, a study suggests. But for some reason, women in the same study who drank colas did seem to have a greater risk of high blood pressure. Researchers were surprised at that and cautioned that the study wasn’t conclusive.Caffeine is a well-known ingredient in both beverages, and has been shown to cause short-term increases in blood pressure. But coffee drinkers in the study were no more likely than abstainers to develop high blood pressure during 12 years of follow-up.Previous data on coffee and hypertension is mixed, but there’s a common perception that its temporary effects on blood pressure mean an increased long-term risk, said Dr. Wolfgang Winkelmayer, the study’s lead author and a researcher at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
