Coffee and High Blood Pressure
|
| INTERNATIONAL |
If you enjoy your cup of coffee but are unsure of what you’ve read about coffee and high blood pressure, you may be ready to give up the luxury. Don’t fret! I have some info here to cheer you up big time.
We may have heard that coffee has a down side as well as a plus which can affect blood pressure, so what are they and can the negative effects be explained away?
Effects connected with Coffee and High Blood Pressure
Negative
- anxiety
- loosing sleep
- elevated blood pressure
- coronary artery disease
Positive
- natural diuretic/laxative
- antioxidant
- cardio protective
Coronary Artery Disease and Elevated Blood Pressure.
Is there a connection between coffee and high blood pressure being elevated, and/or causing coronary artery disease? Many researchers say that they have found little evidence implicating caffeine to cardiovascular disease. (This will cover coffee and high blood pressure). Heart disturbances only occurred with high doses, or in sensitive individuals. They report that when administered acutely, moderate doses of caffeine can increase blood pressure and decrease heart rate. For most people, tolerance develops to these effects within a few days and there is no alteration in cardiovascular effects for habitual caffeine users.
Natural Diuretic/Laxative.
It is reported that caffeine administered acutely increases diuresis (urination), but this effect was not noted in habitual drinking of a few cups of coffee a day. I don’t know if this is the same in your case but usually when I drink coffee, within, let’s say a matter of half an hour; I am running for the loo. My dilemma is not to be used as a gauge because I don’t normally drink a lot of coffee and high blood pressure is not a problem I suffer from. I am just wondering if it affects others in the same way, who suffer from high blood pressure, and are being prescribed diuretics by their doctors. They would need to take precautions and what of these reports?
Anxiety and loosing sleep.
Drinking too much coffee can cause a state of nervousness and anxiety. This is one of the reasons why coffee and high blood pressure can become an issue. What is too much? On average, 5 cups or more in any 24 hour period. Of course this will depend on how strong your coffee is, but usually we can determine that ourselves when we don’t feel quite right, feel insecure or nervous and sweat profusely. As for loosing sleep, well coffee is a stimulant so try drinking it early to waken you up but refrain from it in the evenings.
Antioxidant.
Coffee will play a mild role of antioxidant if more powerful sources are not present in the body. It’s not really a great antioxidant. I suggest if you want to supplement with antioxidants choose powerful ones such as, turmeric, grape seed extract, and white maritime pine bark extract.
This is a better choice if you suffer from high blood pressure and don’t want any slight increase in levels caused by caffeine.
Some of the processes though, use chemical solvents to decaf. If you want to keep clear of them, then there are several methods that you need to know about, which are used to remove caffeine.
Manufactures use chemical solvents called Trichloroethylene, Methylene chloride, or Ethyl Acetate. Because ethyl acetate is also present in fruits, some decafs which have had caffeine extracted by this method are labelled, “natural decaf”. They also use a method called Supercritical Carbon Dioxide.
Your fears may be allayed if you know that coffee beans are roasted at 200 °C, after these decaffeinating methods, evaporating the solvents as the temperature reaches 80-90 °C and beyond.
If you want to feel really safe, you will like the idea that some manufacturers just soak there beans in water to remove caffeine. The Swiss Water Process. This to me seems the safest coffee for you.
Filtered to remove cholesterol-raising agents
When coffee is filtered to remove cholesterol-raising agents, coffee and high blood pressure should not present a problem.
Boiled coffee has substances called Cafestol and Kahweol. They are lipids which are said to dramatically increase or both LDL & HDL cholesterol levels, some researchers contradict and say it slightly increases these levels, so whatever the case may be, if you are worried about coffee and high blood pressure, and believe you would fare better keeping your cholesterol low, then you will be happy to know that filtering coffee using paper filters will remove the cafestol and kahweol.
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION 267(6):811-815 (1992)
ANNUAL REVIEW OF NUTRITION 17:305-324 (1997)
Here`s some more good news for all coffee lovers! Recorded in the Archives of Internal Medicine, we learn that drinking an additional cup of coffee, especially decaffeinated coffee, or tea could reduce the risks of developing diabetes type 11 by 7%. Rachel Huxley along with a team of researchers discovered that data from 18 studies were showing the existance of an association between these beverages and diabetes type 2, a contributing factor to high blood pressure.
Great news! For all you coffee drinkers out there, it looks like coffee and high blood pressure are not really an issue and drinking coffee in moderation is safe, so go ahead and enjoy your cup of coffee. Don’t forget though, like everything else, one needs to exercise balance. Too much of a good thing can disturb that balance. Such as Acidosis.
Acidosis
Have you heard of Acidosis? If you haven’t, I’m sure you know about the Ph balance of your skin. Advertisers often use it when promoting soap. If your skin is too acidic or too alkaline, unhealthy skin will result. This same Ph balance is a necessary environmental condition within all our organs too. Keeping an eye on the blood Ph, which should be 7.365 – slightly alkaline, is a perfect indicator of your body Ph balance. 7 – is neutral, and anything below 7 is acidic.
Coffee is an acid food, and when taking into consideration all the other acidic foods we might consume during the day, obviously keeping it in moderation is wise, don’t you think?
You probably are asking, “What does acidity have to do with coffee and high blood pressure?”
Well consider this:
Most of us are prone to consume a larger percentage of acidic food and drink than recommended. Foods such as, bread, white sugar (sucrose), oils, sour fruits, milk products, meat products, fats, pasta, cocoa, carbonated drinks, tea, beans, lentils, nuts, and coffee contribute to acidosis . The majority of us don’t realise that they can become sick when the recommendations are ignored.
Acidosis can lead to severe problems within the heart, liver, and kidneys. Acidosis is a condition where the acid in the body consumes the cell membranes of the heart, arteries, and veins. Then the heart structure and other tissues are weakened considerably. Since all living tissues and organs in the body are dependant on the pH of the blood, if its Ph balance is too acidic, travelling through the circulatory system, it will eventually corrode the structural composition of the heart, artery and vein walls, causing injury and microscopic tearing.
Acidosis can also lead to the development of arteriosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), aneurysm (widening and swelling of artery walls), arrhythmias (abnormal functioning of the hearts), heart attacks, and various cardiovascular accidents. When these structures are weakened, it creates irregularities in blood pressure, escalating the problem. When the blood is too acidic it causes cholesterol to enter the heart at an accelerated rate, leading to the possible “clogging” of veins and arteries. So really too much acid foods such as above including coffee and high blood pressure will increase or result if you don’t already suffer from it. And with an extra bonus thrown in, it can and probably will lead to accelerated aging. Nice!
Here are a couple of amusing quotes from 17th century English folks, on their new coffee experience. Even they expressed a plus side and down side of drinking coffee.
“Tis extolled for drying up the Crudities of the Stomack, and for expelling Fumes out of the Head. Excellent Berry! which can cleanse the English-man's Stomak of Flegm, and expel Giddinesse out of his Head.”
1661 tract entitled "A character of coffee and coffee-houses", written by one "M.P.",
“…the Excessive Use of that Newfangled, Abominable, Heathenish Liquor called Coffee […] has […] Eunuch our Husbands, and Crippled our more kind Gallants, that they are become as Impotent, as Age.”
Anonymous 1674 "Women's Petition against Coffee"
Ha! Ha! So never mind the blood pressure, what about the love life?
Points of interest –
A coffee Arabica bean containing little caffeine has been found recently in Ethiopia, the country where the coffee bean originated from. Drink this coffee and high blood pressure more likely will not be affected.
Almost all brands of decaffeinated coffee still contain some caffeine. Drinking five to ten cups of decaffeinated coffee could deliver as much caffeine as one or two cups of regular coffee, according to research at the University of Florida Maples Centre for Forensic Medicine.
Some brands of Aspirin have small amounts of caffeine added to enhance their effectiveness as pain killers. If your doctor has recommended Aspirin to help thin your blood, then don’t just take any aspirin you find on the market.
So folks! Enjoy your cuppa! In moderation of course!
Learn more about the causes of high blood pressure.
