Drinking coffee, the world's most widely consumed pharmacologically active substance, has potentially harmful effects on blood vessels, according to research presented here this week at the 22nd Congress of the European Society of Cardiology.

　　Dr M. O'Rourke and colleagues at St. Vincent's Hospital, Sydney, Australia, presented data linking caffeine consumption with alterations in the aorta, the main artery supplying blood to the body.

　　In the study, 18 middle-aged healthy volunteers consumed 250 mg of caffeine (equivalent to 2 or 3 cups). The results showed that caffeine led to a loss of aortic elasticity, and raised blood pressure. The elasticity of the aorta is linked to heart function and coronary blood flow, the researchers say.

　　In another study of fifteen healthy volunteers, Dr. Georg Noll and colleagues at the University Hospital of Zurich, Switzerland, showed for the first time that coffee drinking result in a pronounced blood pressure increase in non-habitual coffee drinkers, but did not apparently have the same effect in regular coffee drinkers.

　　In the study, blood pressure, heart rate and other measurements were continuously recorded before and after drinking coffee (triple espresso), decaffeinated triple espresso, an intravenous infusion of caffeine, or placebo.

(From China Daily)