Caffeine and Heart Disease
If you’re anything like me, you drink a lot of caffeinated drinks. In the U.S., approximately 85% of adults drink a caffeinated beverage in the form of coffee, tea, and sodas. The daily average of cups of coffee per drinker is 3.3 and 64% of all coffee is consumed at breakfast.(Lane, Psychosomatic Medicine.) Researchers have debated the correlation between caffeine and heart disease, as experiments have come up with conflicting results.
During a two day study, James D. Lane studied the affects of caffeine on the blood pressure in 47 daily coffee drinkers. On the first day, half of the participants were given caffeine capsules and the other half were given a placebo. The next day, this was reversed. The group who had the caffeine capsules was given the placebo and those who had the placebo first were given the caffeine capsules. Using a portable monitor, the participant’s blood pressure and heart rates were measured throughout the two days. Stress hormones levels were monitored from urine samples. When the results from both days were compared, he found that blood pressure was consistently higher on caffeine days. Blood pressure was on average 4mm higher for systolic and 3mm for diastolic on caffeine days. The stress hormone levels were also higher by 32%. (Lane) This clearly shows that caffeine is not good for your heart.
However, another study showed that consuming caffeine regularly may provide protection against heart disease in the elderly whose blood pressure is normal. The idea is that caffeine will boost blood pressure too counteract the drop in pressure after eating a meal, something that occurs more as people age. Of the 6,594 adults participating in the study, 426 died of heart disease in a 9 year period. Researchers found that adults 65 and older who consumed more caffeine had a lower risk of death from heart disease. However, this effect was not seen in people younger than 65.
It appears that consuming large amounts of caffeine will only be helpful to you when you’re older. Heart disease is one of top causes of death in this country. Taking measures to maintain a healthy blood pressure is the key to preventing the risk of disease. Clearly, this will be no easy task; given the amount of coffee (as well as other drinks such as sodas) Americans drink daily.
-Posted by WildThing
posted by PWH @ 8:13 PM
7 comments
7 Comments:
The controversy regarding coffee has been raging for quite some time. Those of us who can't function in the am without our usual dose understand this perfectly well....this post sheds light on an important long term health consideration re: stress hormones and the effect caffeine can have metabolically. It is a good news-bad news kind of thing...yes coffee can provide the jolt that clears that morning fog, improves verbal facility and gets you going, but unfortunately, it is doing so by blocking adenosine a naturally occurring psychoactive chemical that, in addition to other duties, helps lower blood pressure. The info in this post is quite relevant to this forum, because most college students don't even think about their blood pressure at this point in their lives.
CatherineS
Course participant
I think this is quite an interesting study, primarily because it is not commonly known that elderly people could benefit from drinking caffinated drinks. Honestly, I don't happen to be a coffee addict, but I do love Dunkin' drinks. Besides that though, I can definitely see how "intoxicating" our bodies with caffine is not a good idea. Stress levels do increase and according to your research the heart is not affected in a positive way either. Taking into consideration the fact that elderly people could possibly benefit from having caffine in their bodies, I can't help but wonder if my grandmother would drink caffinated coffee if she knew it could help her health. Most elederly people probably stick with decaffinated coffee and without doubt, (due to their generation), would not be so interested in drinking anything else. Regardless, it is essential to consider a topic such as this, because adolescents to young adults do not think about the dramatic changes in their blood pressure, everytime they take a sip from that steamy mug. Coffee tastes good..no doubt, but there is for sure more to it than getting a sudden rush of energy. Hormone and heart effects must be realized, before the addictions increase even more so.
This is some interesting information. In an honors genchem class last year, I researched how caffeine affects the brain and body. You're right, it really didn't seem like there was a ton of information/reasearch being done out there on what exactly caffeine does to the body.
Were any of the studies you mentioned age-specific? It would be neat to find a long-range study that monitored people's caffeine intake and the subsequent affect on their heart throughout their lifetime.
In terms of young caffeine consumers-- is caffeine really that bad for your heart? Have there been any studies showing that there are long-term health problems in people who consume coffee starting at a young age? Although caffeine does raise a younger person's blood pressure to higher than it should be, is a really that bad? It's not like their blood pressure is elevated all the time-- it's only while the caffeine is in their system.
Great job on your post-- thanks for the info!
zarban6
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I found this study to be quite interesting. Some of the facts discussed in the study I already knew about. But I found learned something new. I never new that if older individuals drank caffeinated drinks it was better for them. I was always told as a kid to stay away from them because it could be dangerous to my heart. Although I do love a good coffee every now and then. I find it hard to believe that caffeinted drinks could help the elderly. I guess it all depends on the situation the person is in.
In my opinion, I would stay away from caffeinted beverages. It only causes more problem for the individual in the long run.
Wow, it's incredible to see the differnce in caffenie usage regarding age. I never really thought something would be more beneficial to you when you are older than when you are younger, especially caffeine. I also never really knew that caffeine could be that bad for the heart. The information given in this blog and the related article are quite informative. It would be nice to see in the blog if there were any reasons to the higher blood pressure when using caffeine.
This is so interesting. I'm so used to only hearing about how caffeine is so bad and we should cut it down (or out) of our lives but really it can benefit people of a certain age. I think thats something that should be more widely known because the public definitely doesnt have that perception of caffeine.
Also, I think that when it comes to the information in this article and students knowledge, more drinks than coffee should be considered. Like, sodas? I know I don't drink coffee at all but I'm definitely guilty of atleast one or two caffinated sodas a day. Students should learn to be more aware of the effects of the contents in their drinks and their health would probably benefit greatly.
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