By EMMA INNES
Drinking four cups of coffee or tea a day may better for you than not drinking any, according to a major new study.
The ten year research, which followed 180,000 people, revealed that caffeine lovers have lower blood pressure levels than those who do not drink caffeine.
It also suggested that those who drank more than four cups a day also had a lower heart rate.
The findings, by the Preventive and Clinical Investigations Centre in Paris, run counter to most medical advice which recommends people with high blood pressure should cut their caffeine intake.
About one in four middle aged people have high blood pressure, as do about half of those over 65.
High blood pressure can increase the risk of heart disease, stroke, and other serious conditions.
The new research involved monitoring the blood pressure of men and women aged between 16 and 95, over a ten year period.
The subjects had been asked to record their intake of coffee and tea and the results allowed the group to be divided into three categories for those who abstained, those who drank between one and four cups a day, and those who drank more.
The results showed that heavy tea drinkers benefited the most and had the lowest systolic and diastolic blood pressure readings. They also had the lowest pulse pressure and heart rate.
Avid coffee lovers had only slightly higher blood pressure readings.
The groups with the highest blood pressure readings, pulse pressure and heart rate were those who drank neither tea nor coffee.
Overall, the difference between the groups was small but scientifically significant, the authors said.
Medics have been arguing over the relationships between coffee, tea, and blood pressure for many years.
While some studies suggest that modest intake of the drinks can reduce blood pressure, others have been inconclusive.
Many experts fear that drinking too much caffeine can make hypertension even worse.
According to current guidelines by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, GPs should ‘discourage excessive consumption of coffee and other caffeine-rich products’.
Although the new study does not prove that coffee and tea are the cause of lower blood pressure, it suggests that it may not be necessary to tell people with hypertension to cut down on the drinks.
Dr Bruno Pannier, who presented his findings to the European Society of Hypertension in Milan, said it was possible that flavonoids in tea could help to relax blood vessels, therefore reducing blood pressure.
‘The vasorelaxing compounds included in these beverages might be involved in these results, something that has been suggested by the experimental data,’ he said.
However, he admitted that his study had made no distinction between black tea, herbal teas and green tea.
Source: Daily Mail
