Let's Have Coffee?

Coffee sets the blood in motion and stimulates the muscles; it accelerates the digestive processes, chases away sleep, and gives us the capacity to engage a little longer in the exercise of our intellects.
~ Honore de Balzac

I never drink coffee at lunch. I find it keeps me awake for the afternoon.
~ Ronald Reagan

A Reuters report said that heavy coffee drinkers had little to worry about concerning the development of high blood pressure, or hypertension.

In the new study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers found that healthy women who drank upwards of six cups of coffee per day were no more likely than abstainers to develop high blood pressure over the next decade.

On the other hand, women who drank coffee occasionally or in moderation --- reporting anywhere from zero to three cups a day --- had a higher risk of developing high blood pressure than the heavy coffee drinkers or the abstainers.

For men, the risk of high blood pressure did not significantly increase or decrease, regardless of how much coffee they drank each day. However, men who abstained did have a lower risk than any coffee drinkers.

[Reuters, 21 March 2007]

What does this study tell us?

It tells us that the blood pressure effects of coffee drinking vary based on gender and consumption. The study should not be interpreted as an excuse to drink more coffee, because if you read the abstract of the study, the results and conclusion still emphasize that people who did not drink coffee had a lower risk of developing hypertension than coffee drinkers.

The study focused on healthy subjects. It might be prudent for those with existing cardiovascular and hypertensive conditions to be more cautious with their coffee consumption.

Also, the study noted that older coffee drinkers (39 years old and older) had significantly lower blood pressure readings than those who were younger (38 years old and younger).

Why did the study show that older and heavy coffee drinkers had a lower risk of developing hypertension?

The answer is probably due to tolerance.

According to the study, if you are 39 years old or older, and drink 6 or more cups of coffee everyday, your chances of having spike readings in your systolic and diastolic values are minimal (maybe even none) compared to a younger person who drinks coffee lightly at 1 to 3 cups daily. The young light coffee drinker is more sensitive.

That is simply the beauty of this human body. If you subject it to constant stress like caffeine overdose, it develops tolerance over time, and hypertensive risk decreases.

Does this mean we can now binge on our coffee consumption?

Let me present you with available medical and scientific data on the pros and cons of coffee drinking, and from there, let you decide whether to have a cup of coffee or not:

PROS:

• Latest available epidemiological studies on coffee have suggested that it may help prevent Parkinson's disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus (decaffeinated coffee only), and liver diseases like liver cirrhosis and liver cancer.



• Studies have also shown the presence of several heterocyclic compounds in coffee which gives it a significant antioxidant potential.



• Long-term coffee consumption has also been shown to be associated with a "weak ability" to help persons lose weight.



• An animal study published in 1992 mentioned a non-caffeinated ingredient of coffee that can produce an abrupt depression in blood pressure and heart rate when injected intravenously.

CONS:

• Randomized control trials have shown that boiled, unfiltered coffee contains significant amounts of cafestol and kahweol, which are diterpenes, a class of hydrocarbons that has a significant cholesterol-raising effect, and may contribute to an increased coronary heart disease risk.



• Three studies (here, here, and here) have shown that caffeine in coffee has a short-term pressor effect, or the ability to acutely increase blood pressure, and can trigger cardiovascular disease events.



• Another short-term caffeine effect is decreased glucose tolerance and decreased insulin sensitivity (from the same three studies mentioned above), and researchers have speculated that this might increase the risk for neuropathy and diabetic retinopathy.



• In animal studies, high concentrations of caffeine were shown to be teratogenic.



• One study has shown that caffeine can potentiate the teratogenic effect of other substances, such as tobacco and alcohol.



• Two medical articles mentioned that among pregnant mothers, drinking 3 cups of coffee daily can decrease the birth weights of their babies.



• Among the elderly, caffeine has been shown to increase the risk of having kidney stones and osteoporosis.



• Caffeine dependency is characterized by the development of tolerance, as reflected by increases in dose size with time, persistent desire, and a study has described its withdrawal symptoms like headaches, irritability, anxiety, depression, drowsiness, and fatigue.