A coffee a day lowers blood pressure
According to a recent study, drinking a coffee a day helps to control blood pressure by keeping it low.
Good news for coffee lovers: those who drink one coffee a day seem to have lower blood pressure when compared to those who do not drink any. This is the result of a new study carried out by French researchers of the Preventive and Clinical Investigations Centre in Paris. Despite previous research having suggested that coffee consumption could increase blood pressure, this new study indicates the exact opposite.
For ten years, Dr. Bruno Pannier and his colleagues at the PCIC observed the effects of the beverage on a group of subjects, discovering that heavy coffee drinkers had slightly higher blood pressure values than normal, but those who did not drink coffee at all had even higher values. Vasodilation (the relaxing effect on blood vessels) could be the reason why coffee drinkers show lower blood pressure values.
However, observations have shown an increase in blood pressure in those who are not used to consuming caffeine, or after excessive consumption. We therefore recommend moderate consumption of coffee for those who suffer from hypertension, because when combined with other bad habits, this beverage could cause serious problems to the cardiovascular system.
The results of this study were presented in Milan to the Italian Society of Hypertension (SIIA).
The scientific articles below:
- Habitual Caffeine Intake and the Risk of Hypertension in Women (JAMA, November 9, 2005—Vol 294, No. 18) http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=201838
- The effect of coffee on blood pressure and cardiovascular disease in hypertensive individuals: a systematic review and meta-analysis (Am J Clin Nutr 2011;94:1113–26.)
http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/94/4/1113.long - Blood Pressure in Relation to Coffee and Caffeine Consumption (Curr Hypertens Rep (2014) 16:468)
http://rd.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11906-014-0468-2/fulltext.html - Effects of Habitual Coffee Consumption on Cardiometabolic Disease, Cardiovascular Health, and All-Cause Mortality (JACC Vol. 62, No. 12, 2013 17, 2013:1043–51)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0735109713026016 - Coffee consumption and health-related quality of life ( Lopez-Garcia et al. / Clinical Nutrition 33 (2014) 143e149)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0261561413001040