According to the findings, coffee is popular around the world. In Nigeria, over 50 percent of people drink coffee, and the consumption rate in Nigeria rose by more than 20 percent between 2010 and 2018.

However, people who consume caffeinated coffee regularly are not thought to face such risk, because they develop a tolerance. This suggests that the intervals at which people drink caffeinated coffee are of some significance.

The researchers measured the effect of occasional coffee consumption on blood pressure, especially how coffee consumption impacts the action of calcium channel blockers.

Calcium channel blockers are a type of medication for lowering blood pressure. They are commonly prescribed for patients with hypertension. Calcium channel blockers, such as felodipine, relax and widen caffeinated The study, led by Dr. David Bailey, a Lawson scientist and researcher at Western’s Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, explained that the team wanted to find out what would happen to the blood pressure if a person abstained from caffeine long enough to eliminate the caffeine from the blood.

They expected to see a higher blood pressure the next time a person drank coffee because eliminating caffeine and then consuming it again could cancel out the pressure-lowering effects of felodipine.

To test their theory, the scientists invited 13 people with an average age of 52 with normal blood pressure to participate in an experiment.

They carried out three tests on the subjects, separated in time by 1 week. Before each test, the people consumed no coffee, caffeine-containing products, or other items such as alcohol, grapefruit, marmalade, tobacco, and medications for 48 hours.

At intervals of a week, the participants then took the following, and then they had their blood pressure taken:

Two 300 milliliter cups of black coffee, the maximum recommended dose of felodipine (10 mg) and a coffee plus a dose of felodipine.

Results showed that, after the participants avoided coffee for only 2 days, enough caffeine was eliminated from the body, so that the next time they drank coffee, their blood pressure rose.

After just one cup of coffee, the participants in the coffee-only group experienced the greatest increase in blood pressure. The blood pressure rose within an hour after drinking the coffee, and it lasted for several hours.

Combining coffee with felodipine led to higher levels of blood pressure than taking only felodipine. This could be because the caffeine blocks the positive effect of the drug on the blood vessels, the researchers said.

They noted that a morning cup of coffee could affect the diagnosis and treatment of hypertension or high blood pressure.

Dr David Bailey, a cardiologist in Fort Myers, US, said that even one cup of coffee containing a relatively low amount of caffeine remarkably compromised the anti-hypertensive effect of this drug at the maximum recommended dose.

He added that if people want to overcome the effect of the coffee, they have to double the dose of this anti-hypertensive drug which could increase the risk of unwanted excessive drug effects, particularly during the period when coffee is not consumed.

Bailey is concerned that if a patient drinks coffee just before visiting their doctor, it could complicate diagnosis and treatment, while the acute increase in blood pressure could lead to over-prescription of antihypertensive drugs.

The cardiologist pointed out that between 15 and 20 percent of people who drink coffee do so only occasionally. People who drink coffee twice a week or less may have an occasional rise in blood pressure. In some people, the rise can be greater than in others.

The scientists’ opined that further studies will provide more data, and that occasional coffee drinkers will become more aware of the risks they face.

Source: Pharmanews