According to a new Italian study, people who consume two or three cups of coffee a day have lower blood pressure compared to those who consume less of this drink.
- In 2020 and 2021, nearly 10 million tons of coffee were consumed worldwide according to estimates.
- Researchers don’t always agree on the health effects, but several studies suggest that drinking coffee can reduce the risk of several diseases like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and neurodegenerative and liver diseases.
- However, the cause of these health benefits remains unknown.
If you are a coffee lover, here is a study that can reassure you. Italian researchers report that people who drink two or three cups of coffee a day have lower blood pressure than those who drink less. The results of their study were published online in the review Nutrients on January 8, 2023.
Blood pressure: a positive effect also among decaffeinated lovers
“Caffeine is just one of the many components of coffee and certainly not the only one to play an active role. Indeed, positive effects on human health have been recorded even among those who consume decaffeinated coffee”explains the first author of the study, Arrigo Cicero, professor in the Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences at the University of Bologna, in a communicated. “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”he points out.
To understand this, a team of researchers analyzed a sample of 720 men and 783 women from the Brisighella Heart Study. They compared blood pressure levels, coffee drinking habits and other clinical data points for each person.
“The results are very clear: peripheral blood pressure was significantly lower in individuals consuming one to three cups of coffee per day than in non-coffee drinkers”, says Professor Cicero. Peripheral blood pressure describes the blood pressure measured from the upper arm. “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 quite similar values for habitual coffee drinkers. compared to non-coffee drinkers”adds the Italian researcher.
Be careful not to exceed the dose of 400mg of caffeine
High blood pressure is closely linked to cardiovascular disease due to the high force of blood constantly pushing against the walls of blood vessels, causing the heart to work harder to pump it out. The results of this study are valuable because they offer another potential nutritional pathway to lower blood pressure and prevent cardiovascular disease.
Despite these positive effects, be careful not to consume too much coffee: the European Food Safety Agency recommends not consuming more than 400 mg of caffeine per day, or more than four espressos during the day. In pregnant or breastfeeding women, it should not exceed 200 mg. Below 400 mg per day, caffeine consumption is associated with an increase in life expectancy, according to certain studies.
