Blood Pressure
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.
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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)
