Does Coffee Raise Blood Pressure |
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Does Coffee Raise Blood Pressure | Darrell Miller | 10/05/05 |
Date:
October 05, 2005 10:14 AM
Author: Darrell Miller
(dm@vitanetonline.com)
Subject: Does Coffee Raise Blood Pressure
Does Coffee Raise my Blood Pressure?
There are individual responses to both coffee and caffeine, which is also found in tea, chocolate and herbal supplements such as guarana(Paullinia Cupana). We all know that some people will be wired on half a cup of joe, whereas others can fall asleep after three cups. Therefore, it doesn’t surprise me when some people seem to have blood-pressure sensitivities to coffee and others don’t.
Recently, a meta-analysis of both coffee and straight caffeine compared 16 randomized, controlled studies involving more than 1,000 subjects. When the researchers looked at blood pressure and coffee (with an average daily intake of 725 ml, or about three cups per day), they found that there was a very minimal rise in blood pressure (1mm Hg systolic, less than 1 mm Hg diastolic). When they looked at studies of just caffeine and blood pressure, was clearly more evident (410mg a day of caffeine produced a systolic increase of 4 mm Hg and a diastolic increase of 2 mm Hg).
So it is the coffee of the caffeine? The coffee trials didn’t clarify how much caffeine there was per cup. Caffeine varies by variety, brewing method and other factors, but one could estimate that a cup of brewed coffee might average 75 mg – 100mg of caffeine, so those three cups of coffee might equate 225mg to 300mg of caffeine. Since there was a clear increase in blood pressure—though generally not a lot—and it’s certainly variable in its effects. Decaffeinated coffee is unlikely, in most people, to have much consequence on blood pressure.
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