Drinking three cups of coffee a day could increase the risk of thromboembolic stroke in older men who have high blood pressure. Thromboembolic stroke is where the brain is damaged due to reduced blood flow caused by blockage in an artery supplying blood to the brain. This may be caused by thrombosis, where arterial disease leads to the blockage, or embolism, where a clot is usually the culprit. Stroke may also be caused by hemorrhage, where an artery bleeds, interrupting blood supply to the brain.

After adjusting for the age of the men, the risk of stroke due to thrombosis or a blood clot rose as coffee consumption increased. When adjusted for other factors, the risk of stroke more than doubled for men who drank three cups of coffee a day compared with men who did not drink coffee. There was no link found between coffee consumption and hemorrhagic stroke.

Journal of Clinical Epidemiology 1998;51:487-494.

Dr. Mercola's Comment:

I don't normally aggressively push patients to discontinue their coffee intake. However, the optimum is to only consume water. This study does not indicate if the non caffeine varieties put one at less of a risk. Most people do not realize that coffee is usually not grown in this country and is not under the US pesticide bans.

It seems that the wise choice would be to phase out your coffee, especially if you are an older man.