Blood Pressure
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Frequently Asked Questions about Blood Pressure
The downsides of caffeine intake
Caffeine can have a determinetal impact on your blood pressure, eye pressure, and acid reflux.
Human Effect Matrix
The Human Effect Matrix looks at human studies (it excludes animal and in vitro studies) to tell you what supplements affect blood pressure
| Grade | Level of Evidence [show legend] |
|---|---|
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Robust research conducted with repeated double-blind clinical trials |
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Multiple studies where at least two are double-blind and placebo controlled |
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Single double-blind study or multiple cohort studies |
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Uncontrolled or observational studies only |
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Level of Evidence
?
The amount of high quality evidence. The more
evidence, the more we can trust the results.
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Outcome |
Magnitude of effect
?
The direction and size of the supplement's impact on
each outcome. Some supplements can have an increasing effect, others have a decreasing effect, and others have no effect.
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Consistency of research results
?
Scientific research does not always agree. HIGH or
VERY HIGH means that most of the scientific research agrees.
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Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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Minor
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- See all 23 studies |
While not affecting everybody, there appears to be a decrease in blood pressure when assessing mildly hypertensive people; the increase in blood flow seen in healthy people is not accompanied by a decrease in blood pressure, while the xanthine (caffeine) content of chocolate products may cause a mild and transient increase in blood pressure in some subjects.
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Minor
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Very High See all 8 studies |
May decrease blood pressure in persons with high blood pressure, but does not appear to have efficacy in persons with normal blood pressure
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Notable
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High See all 12 studies |
Garlic supplementation appears to reduce blood pressure, and the magnitude is quite respectable in persons with hypertension (around 10 points systolic or 8-10%) whereas there is a smaller but present reduction in persons with normal blood pressure.
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References
- Verster JC, Koenig J. Caffeine intake and its sources: A review of national representative studies. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. (2018)
- Guessous I, Eap CB, Bochud M. Blood pressure in relation to coffee and caffeine consumption. Curr Hypertens Rep. (2014)
- Nurminen ML, et al. Coffee, caffeine and blood pressure: a critical review. Eur J Clin Nutr. (1999)
- Noordzij M, et al. Blood pressure response to chronic intake of coffee and caffeine: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. J Hypertens. (2005)
- Greenberg JA, Chow G, Ziegelstein RC. Caffeinated coffee consumption, cardiovascular disease, and heart valve disease in the elderly (from the Framingham Study). Am J Cardiol. (2008)
- Li M, et al. The effect of caffeine on intraocular pressure: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol. (2011)
- Chandrasekaran S, Rochtchina E, Mitchell P. Effects of caffeine on intraocular pressure: the Blue Mountains Eye Study. J Glaucoma. (2005)
- Lohsiriwat S, Puengna N, Leelakusolvong S. Effect of caffeine on lower esophageal sphincter pressure in Thai healthy volunteers. Dis Esophagus. (2006)