Written by Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS.
High blood pressure has been called a worldwide epidemic (1) and cost our healthcare system $73 billion in 2009 (2). The National Institutes of Health classify a healthy blood pressure as 120/80 mmHg or lower, a blood pressure between 120/80 and 140/90 as “prehypertension”, and 140/90 mmHg or greater as high blood pressure (3).
With high blood pressure being such a pressing health issue, a concern exists in those with high blood pressure and coffee consumption. Coffee is the most consumed beverage on earth (4) and Americans currently drink an average of 1.5 cups per day (5). The caffeine content in coffee may cause an increase in blood pressure and raise it above levels considered safe. In addition, coffee consumption might reduce the effectiveness of drug treatments (6, 7). But because some components of coffee have been shown to improve blood sugar control, improve blood vessel function, and reduce inflammation (8, 9, 10), more information is needed regarding coffee consumption by those with high blood pressure.
A 2011 study (11) analyzed five studies on the short-term effects and six studies on the longer-term effects of coffee/caffeine on blood pressure. All the studies involved a dose of 200–300 milligram caffeine to the participants (equivalent to 1.5–2 cups filtered coffee). The researchers found that within 60 minutes, systolic blood pressure (the top number) increased in amounts from 4.3% (137 to 143 mmHg (12) (p = 0.05)) to 10.3% (135 to 149 mmHg (13) (p = 0.05)) and lasted up to 3 hours after ingestion, regardless of whether the subjects were taking high blood pressure medications.
For the longer-terms studies that lasted from 2 days to 2 weeks (14, 15), the researchers found that “no increase in blood pressure was observed when coffee intake was compared with the caffeine-free diet and when coffee intake was compared with the decaffeinated coffee.”
Because of the short-term increases in blood pressure with coffee consumption which “may temporarily increase the risk of a cardiovascular event (16, 17)”, the researchers recommended that subjects with uncontrolled high blood pressure “avoid consuming large doses of caffeine”. In addition, “studies of the effect of prolonged coffee consumption (longer than 2 weeks) on blood pressure are needed” as “such evidence would make it possible to fine tune recommendations about coffee consumption in hypertensive individuals.”
Editor’s Note: “…The health effects of caffeine have been extensively studied. Short term side effects such as headache, nausea, and anxiety have been shown as symptoms of mild caffeine consumption. The long-term effects of moderate caffeine consumption can be a reduced risk of developing hepatic (liver) diseases, and cardiovascular disease. Caffeine competitively inhibits different adenosine receptors (which relax the brain and heart) . . . to make a person feel alert (but increases heart rate). A mild stimulant of the central nervous system, caffeine also stimulates cardiac muscle, relaxes smooth muscle, increases gastric secretions, and produces diuresis (more urination)…”. Source: Wikipedia, October 24, 2014. Click here for more information on caffeine and coffee health effects.
Source: Mesas, Arthur Eumann, et al. “The effect of coffee on blood pressure and cardiovascular disease in hypertensive individuals: a systematic review and meta-analysis.” The American journal of clinical nutrition (2011): ajcn-016667.
© 2011 American Society for Nutrition
Posted January 19, 2016. r/cw
Greg Arnold is a Chiropractic Physician practicing in Hauppauge, NY. You can contact Dr. Arnold directly by emailing him at PitchingDoc@msn.com or visiting his web site at www.PitchingDoc.com.
References:
- Casas JP. Homocysteine and stroke: evidence on a causal link from Mendelian randomization. Lancet 2005; 365(9455): 224-232
- “May is high blood pressure education month” posted on the CDC website
- “What Is High Blood Pressure?” posted on the NIH website
- “Coffee – The Market – The Economics of Coffee” posted on First Science, August 15, 2003
- “U.S. Coffee Consumption” posted on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration website.
- The Seventh Report of the Joint National Committee on Prevention. Detection, evaluation, and treatment of high blood pressure—complete report
- Mancia G, et al. 2007 Guidelines for the management of arterial hypertension: the Task Force for the Management of Arterial Hypertension of the European Society of Hypertension (ESH) and of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). Eur Heart J 2007;28:1462–536
- Abel ED. Myocardial insulin resistance and cardiac complications of diabetes. Curr Drug Targets Immune Endocr Metabol Disord 2005;5:219–26
- Lopez-Garcia E, van Dam RM, Qi L, Hu FB. Coffee consumption and markers of inflammation and endothelial dysfunction in healthy and diabetic women. Am J Clin Nutr 2006;84:888–93
- Go´mez-Ruiz JA, Leake DS, Ames JM. In vitro antioxidant activity of coffee compounds and their metabolites. J Agric Food Chem 2007;55:6962–9
- Mesas AE. The effect of coffee on blood pressure and cardiovascular disease in hypertensive individuals: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Am J Clin Nutr 2011 Oct;94(4):1113-26. doi: 10.3945/ajcn.111.016667. Epub 2011 Aug 31
- Freestone S, Ramsay LE. Effect of coffee and cigarette smoking on the blood pressure of untreated and diuretic-treated hypertensive patients. Am J Med 1982;73:348–53
- Vlachopoulos C, Hirata K, Stefanadis C, Toutouzas P, O’Rourke MF. Caffeine increases aortic stiffness in hypertensive patients. Am J Hypertens 2003;16:63–6
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- Eggertsen R, Andreasson A, Hedner T, Karlberg BE, Hansson L. Effect of coffee on ambulatory blood pressure in patients with treated hypertension. J Intern Med 1993;233:351–5
- Baylin A, Hernandez-Diaz S, Kabagambe EK, Siles X, Campos H. Transient exposure to coffee as a trigger of a first nonfatal myocardial infarction. Epidemiology 2006;17:506–11
- Mostofsky E, Schlaug G, Mukamal KJ, Rosamond WD, Mittleman MA. Coffee and acute ischemic stroke onset: the Stroke Onset Study. Neurology 2010;75:1583–8.