Coffee consumption and blood pressure: a randomized, crossover clinical trial.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the effect of moderate coffee consumption on blood pressure over a prolonged period of time. Previous work in this area has used primarily purified caffeine. DESIGN: A prospective, randomized, crossover clinical trial. SETTING: A hypertension specialty outpatient clinic at the University of Tennessee, Memphis. PATIENTS: Healthy, young, white men who were moderate coffee drinkers (less than 6 cups/day) were recruited. Twenty-four subjects were randomized and 21 (average age 35.5 years) completed the trial. INTERVENTIONS: Subjects were randomized to one of two groups: Group A drank three or more cups of coffee/day for two months, then crossed over to abstaining from coffee for two months; group B abstained from coffee first, then crossed over to drinking coffee. Only filter-brewed coffee was used. Subjects were seen at monthly intervals for blood pressure measurements. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: The average coffee consumption was 3.6 cups/day during the coffee-drinking phases. There was no difference between the coffee-drinking phase and the abstention phase in either systolic blood pressure (110.1 mmHg vs. 108.0 mmHg, respectively; 95% CI of difference -7.3, 2.5) or diastolic blood pressure (67.2 mmHg vs. 69.6 mmHg, respectively; 95% CI of difference -2.2, 6.4). CONCLUSIONS: Moderate daily consumption of coffee does not elevate blood pressure.

Coffee consumption and serum lipids: a randomized, crossover clinical trial.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of consuming three or more cups of filter-brewed coffee per day on levels of serum lipids. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A prospective, randomized crossover clinical trial was performed. Twenty-one healthy white male subjects completed the trial, and consumed an average of 3.6 cups of coffee a day. Data were evaluated by analysis of variance for repeated measures and t-test for paired means. RESULTS: No effect of coffee consumption on serum total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, or apolipoprotein B was found. Diet, creamer use, and cigarette use as well as group assignment and time factors were controlled for in the analysis. CONCLUSION: We found no effect of moderate consumption of filter-brewed coffee on serum levels of atherogenic lipids. This study supports previous work that filtered coffee has no adverse effect on serum lipids. This has far-reaching implications given the widespread use of coffee and the current concern over coronary risk factors.

Secondary hypertension.

Endocrinologic causes of secondary hypertension are extremely rare in the elderly population. The most common correctable cause of secondary hypertension in elderly persons is renovascular hypertension (RVHT). With aggressive investigation and intervention, RVHT can be corrected with low mortality and morbidity at referral institutions. Angioplasty is less effective in elderly persons with RVHT. Results of revascularization are good in terms of improvement of blood pressure control and preservation of renal function in the elderly population.

Coffee and coronary heart disease: a review.

Since the early 1900s, coffee has been implicated as having adverse effects on human health. Recent attention has focused on coffee's relation to CHD, but because of conflicting results of epidemiologic studies on coffee and CHD mortality, attention has turned to the effects of coffee and caffeine on individual CHD risk factors. Coffee's effect on serum lipids does not appear to be due to caffeine. If in fact an adverse effect on lipids exists, it may be related to other factors including biochemical constituents other than caffeine, hardness of the water used in preparation, and the method of preparation, filtered coffee having no effect. The data are fairly convincing that chronic coffee ingestion does not induce hypertension, although acute consumption produces a small, short-lived increase in BP. The least well understood effect of coffee is its potential to induce cardiac arrhythmias, including potentially lethal ventricular ectopy in certain individuals. More work is needed in this area of arrhythmias before any concrete recommendations can be made. Until more convincing evidence against coffee is compiled, it appears that, at least in moderate amounts in otherwise healthy persons, coffee is a safe beverage.

Health perceptions and medical care opinions of inner-city adults with sickle cell disease or asthma compared with those of their siblings.

Inner-city adults (n = 108) with a chronic disease (sickle cell disease or asthma) and their unaffected siblings (n = 50) were interviewed and ratings of health perceptions and opinions about medical care were compared. Persons with a chronic disease reported unfavorable ratings of their health (P less than .001). Their siblings reported moderately favorable health perceptions but much worry and concern about their health. When compared with the asthma subgroup, persons with sickle cell disease reported more adverse ratings of health outlook susceptibility to illness, sickness orientation, humaneness of medical care, and satisfaction with medical care (P less than .05). These observations demonstrate low health perceptions in adults with two chronic medical conditions and more negative perceptions in persons with sickle cell disease. They indicate possible opportunities for improving medical care for patients with these conditions to achieve better perceptions of health, outlook, and medical services.