Moderate coffee consumption may help maintain low blood pressure

Drinking two to three cups of coffee every day helped maintain low blood BP, according to the results of a study published in Nutrients.

The findings further showed that regular coffee drinkers had significantly lower BP, “both on peripheral and central levels, than those who do not drink it,” Arrigo F. G. Cicero, MD, PhD, an associate professor in the department of medical and surgical sciences with the University of Bologna in Italy, said in a press release.

“Coffee is one of the most widely consumed beverages in Italy and in the world, and its consumption has already been associated with a positive impact on human health, particularly regarding CVD, type 2 diabetes and a number of neurodegenerative and liver diseases,” Cicero and colleagues wrote.

The researchers conducted a subanalysis of the Brisighella Heart Study to compare peripheral and central BP values in 783 women and 720 men who reported drinking varying amounts of coffee every day.

Cicero and colleagues found that, compared with heavy coffee consumption, moderate coffee drinking was associated with higher levels of systolic BP (SBP). However, compared with no coffee consumption at all, moderate coffee drinking was linked to lower SBP (P < .05).

More specifically, compared with non-coffee drinkers, people who drank two cups per day and people who drank more than three cups per day had lower SBP by 5.2 ± 1.6 mmHg (P = .01) and 9.7 ± 3.2 mmHg, respectively (P = .007). The researchers also noted similar trends for aortic BP, aortic pulse pressure (PP) and peripheral PP.

“The results are very clear: peripheral blood pressure was significantly lower in individuals consuming one to three cups of coffee a day than in non-coffee drinkers,” Cicero said in the release. “And for the first time, we were also able to confirm these effects with regard to the central aortic pressure, the one close to the heart, where we observe an almost identical phenomenon with entirely similar values for habitual coffee drinkers compared to non-coffee drinkers.”

The researchers wrote that there is a “lack of a difference in the impact of caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee” on outcomes, which “suggests that caffeine per se is not the main determinant of the effect of coffee on human health.”

“Caffeine is only one of the several coffee components and certainly not the only one with an active role. Positive effects on human health have indeed been recorded even among those who consume decaffeinated coffee," Cicero said in the release. “We know that caffeine can increase blood pressure, but other bioactive components in coffee seem to counterbalance this effect with a positive end result on blood pressure levels.”

Cicero and colleagues concluded that “self-reported regular coffee drinkers have significantly lower peripheral (SBP, PP) and aortic (central BP and PP) blood pressure than non-coffee drinkers.”

“However, self-reported coffee consumption seems to not be significantly associated with arterial stiffness parameters,” they wrote. “Therefore, our data support the overall positive effect of coffee drinking on cardiovascular risk profiles of the general Italian population.”

References:

• Cicero AFG, et al. Nutrients. 2023;doi:10.3390/nu15020312.
• Drinking coffee helps maintain low blood pressure. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/978912. Published Feb. 7, 2023. Accessed Feb. 9, 2023.