Does Coffee Cause High Blood Pressure?
A recent Finnish study followed over 24,000 citizens with no prior history of hypertension or high blood pressure for thirteen years to attempt to find a causal link between high blood pressure and coffee. The ages of the participants were between 25 and 64 years old. Also required was that they had no history of hypertension drug use and no history of stroke or heart disease.
Unfortunately, the answers from the study were inconclusive leaving it an open question as to how much coffee drinking affects hypertension.
Over the period during which the study took place, more than 2500 subjects, or about ten percent of them started to take some type of anti hypertension drug. Prior studies had already demonstrated that approximately 19% of non-coffee drinkers developed high blood pressure during the time period of the study. What is unknown, however, is how many of the participants developed high blood pressure but were either unaware of it or not taking medication for it.
Part of the questionnaire that participants were asked to complete focused on how many cups of coffee they drink daily. The more cups of coffee a participant drank, the greater the chances are that he or she would end up in the group taking anti hypertension drugs. So although there does seem to be some slight causation link between coffee drinking and high blood pressure, the risk seems to be small, and many questions still remain.
As an example of how some of these questions remain unanswered is that, as a general observation, coffee drinkers tend to drink alcohol more than non coffee drinkers. Although a drink once in a while may be beneficial for relieving stress and may even reduce diastolic blood pressure, studies have consistently shown that alcohol when consumed in excess increases blood pressure. We also know that over time, excess drinking can damage the heart. But, the study did not control for alcohol consumption.
Unfortunately, until better control studies come along, we are left in the dark. However, those of us who really love coffee, can now enjoy our daily caffeine fix without guilt pangs.
Melissa Chow is a freelance writer who writes articles for her website on topics such as ways on how to lower high blood pressure, herbs for high blood pressure, and well known natural cures for high blood pressure. Please visit her site for more details.
Tags: coffee, high blood pressure, hypertension