Coffee-drinking Patterns and their Health Impacts

Coffee is one of the most consumed beverages in the world, and as such it has important implications for public health.  The aim of this study was to investigate if cardiovascular symptoms can lead to alterations in habitual patterns of coffee consumption and also the effects of coffee on body functions. 

In the short term, caffeine ingestion increases blood pressure. This increase in blood pressure may be blamed on the fact that caffeine blocks a hormone that helps keep arteries widened, causing them to narrow and that caffeine causes adrenal glands to release more adrenaline, which causes the body’s blood pressure to increase. Some people who regularly drink caffeinated beverages have a higher average blood pressure than those who drink none. But some  develop a tolerance to caffeine and as a result, caffeine doesn't have a long-term effect on their blood pressure.

Caffeine results in the release of hormones from the adrenal glands- noradrenaline and norepinephrine. Among other functions, these hormones result in an increased heart rate and blood pressure. Moreover, caffeine can reactivate enzymes that stimulate heart contractions, causing the heart to contract blood with more force. Thus excessive consumption may lead to cardiovascular symptoms such as tachycardia and heart palpitations. Tachycardia is a medical term for a heart rate over 100 beats per minute (a case of irregular heart rhythms).

This study found that men were more likely to drink caffeinated coffee compared with women, whereas women were more likely to choose decaffeinated coffee or to abstain from coffee. There is also some variation in coffee-drinking habits by age. Coffee consumption is often one of the first behaviors to be altered when a person becomes acutely ill. Participants with high blood pressure, angina (chest pain due to lack of blood supply to the heart), or heart arrhythmia (abnormal heart rhythms) are all less likely to drink coffee, and to be non-habitual coffee or decaffeinated coffee drinkers, compared with participants without these related symptoms. This is because coffee reduces the flow of blood to the heart due to the release of above mentioned hormones and enzymes, and hence, cardiovascular patients are advised against consuming it.

By Saisha

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/high-blood-pressure/expert-answers/blood-pressure/faq-20058543#:~:text=Answer%20From%20Francisco%20Lopez%2DJimenez,differs%20from%20person%20to%20person.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/tachycardia/symptoms-causes/syc-20355127

https://www.metrocardiovascular.com/blog/how-caffeine-can-lead-to-palpitations#:~:text=Caffeine%20affects%20the%20heart%20in,to%20contract%20with%20more%20force.