Counterorder: coffee lowers blood pressure, according to research by Sant’Orsola

BOLOGNA Coffee helps keep blood pressure low. Those who drink two or three a day have lower blood pressure than those who drink just one cup or who do not take any at all: a fact that is valid both peripherally and for central aortic pressure, the one closest to the heart. This is what emerges from a research published in the journal Nutrients, carried out by scholars of the University of Bologna and of the IRCCS University Hospital of Bologna – Policlinico di Sant’Orsola.

“Caffeine is only one of the various components of coffee and it is certainly not the only one that has an active role: in fact, positive effects on human health have also been recorded among those who consume decaffeinated coffee”, says Cicero. “We know that caffeine can help raise blood pressure, but other bioactive components in coffee appear to counteract this effect, resulting in a positive end result for blood pressure levels.”

To investigate these effects, particularly with respect to central blood pressure values, the researchers took into consideration a sample of 720 men and 783 women from a sub-cohort of the Brisighella Heart Study: an observational study coordinated by Claudio Borghi, professor at the Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences of the University of Bologna.

For each of the individuals identified, blood pressure levels and coffee consumption habits were compared, along with a variety of other clinical data. “The results are very clear: peripheral blood pressure was decidedly lower in subjects consuming one to three cups of coffee a day than in non-coffee consumers,” explains Cicero. “And for the first time we were able to confirm these effects also with respect to the central aortic pressure, the one close to the heart, where an almost identical phenomenon is observed, with very similar values ​​for those who habitually drink coffee compared to non-consumers”.

In fact, the data show lower values ​​for coffee consumers both in systolic pressure and in pulse pressure, and both at the level of peripheral circulation and for central aortic pressure. All results that confirm the positive effects of coffee in mitigating the risk of cardiovascular disease.