A recent Finnish study that was put together to study the link between coffee and high blood pressure. Unfortunately, even though the study revealed a lot of information, it was imperfect in that it failed to account for and isolate other variables that have been proven to affect blood pressure.
An interesting example is the demographic are people who drink coffee. Coffee drinkers, as a rule, tend to also be cigarette smokers. It's been well proven that smoking tends to harden the blood arteries and constrict blood flow. The heart has to pump harder to force the blood through the narrow arteries and blood pressure rises as a result. In addition, studies have also demonstrated that discontinuing tobacco smoking will likely lead to a decrease in blood pressure. The study did not control for smoking.
Other lifestyle factors, that were not controlled for, come into the mix as well. Factors such as eating habits, whether the person is male or female, weight, exercise, and salt sensitivity and intake. Diet, as we know, has a great impact on whether a person develops hypertension. Is a person who drinks coffee more likely to also have bad eating habits which can lead to high blood pressure?
Exercise is very beneficial to the heart and arterial system. Is a coffee drinker more likely to be sedentary than a non coffee drinker?
For more than a few decades, it seems like we're constantly being told that some food or other that we have become used to eating is somehow harmful to us. First we were told to eat fish, only later to be told that if we eat fish we risk ingesting too much mercury. A vegetarian diet is good for health, but are we willing to risk bone loss? Fruits have loads of healthy antioxidants, but will the sugar content in them rot our teeth?
However, hidden within the study was one excellent piece of health news. It appears as if drinking coffee actually lowers the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. And, at this point, we'll take all the good news that we can.
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