Study: Coffee Not So Bad For Women

Coffee Might Even Help Lower Blood Pressure; Cola Might Not

(AP)  Winkelmayer's group examined data on 155,594 mostly white female nurses aged 55 on average who took part in two long-running health studies.

They were questioned periodically about their diets and health and followed over 12 years. About 33,000 were diagnosed with high blood pressure.

Women who drank more than three cups of coffee daily were about 7 percent to 12 percent less likely to develop high blood pressure than women who drank little or no coffee.

Those who drank at least four cans of sugared cola drinks daily had a 28 percent to 44 percent increased risk of high blood pressure, compared with women who drank few or none. Diet sodas also increased the risk, although slightly less than the non-diet drinks.

Dr. Charalambos Vlachopoulos, a lecturer at Athens Medical School in Greece whose research has linked coffee with mainly negative cardiovascular effects, said the results "don't necessarily apply" to others, including men and women of other ages and races.

Nutritionist Margaret Savoca, whose work has linked caffeinated soft drinks with higher blood pressure in black teenagers, said she suspects caffeine explains Winkelmayer's results in heavy cola drinkers, too.

Women who drink a lot of soda might have other characteristics that make them different from those who drink lots of coffee, and caffeine might affect them differently, said Savoca, of the University of North Carolina in Greensboro.

Sodium might also be a culprit, said Dr. William Frishman, chief of medicine at Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, N.Y.

Though a single can of soda doesn't have much salt, drinking lots of soda can add up and high blood pressure was most common in those who drank four or more cans daily.

"No one's going to say that cola is dangerous," said Frishman, who added: "It should be consumed in moderation."