Tea or coffee - which increases blood pressure more

Coffee and tea are the leading hot drinks in the world. Statistics show that in our country there are 2–3 kg of coffee beans and 0.2–0.5 kg of tea leaves per person per year. This is about 400 cups of coffee and 260 cups of tea per person. According to research, more than 75% of the population drinks coffee, almost 90% of the population of our country drinks tea. What about hypertensive people - people suffering from high blood pressure? What increases blood pressure - tea or coffee?

Effect of tea and coffee on blood pressure

A widespread myth says that drinking coffee is a risk factor for developing heart and vascular diseases. Its most famous ingredient, caffeine, can actually increase blood circulation, speed up heart activity, and may increase blood pressure (in the short term). However, studies conducted in recent years have clearly shown that normal consumption of coffee and tea does not have a negative effect on the heart, so even people with hypertension or heart disease should not avoid them.

Both drinks contain a range of natural ingredients. French doctors believe that they can be drunk with high blood pressure thanks to flavonoids, which have a beneficial effect on blood pressure and heart rate. These substances, among other benefits, have a vasorelaxant effect, maintaining the elasticity of the arteries, facilitating their dilation. This is useful for hypertension - high blood pressure.

Explaining the question of how black coffee and strong tea affect blood pressure, the problem of their impact on the condition of blood vessels and the heart, however, is much more complicated. Recent studies have shown that an individual's genetic function and "programmed" ability to metabolize caffeine play an important role in the increase or decrease in blood pressure levels. Therefore, in the question of whether you can drink coffee and tea with high blood pressure, follow the advice: everything in moderation.

Pills or proper nutrition?

Once the doctor has prescribed medications to lower blood pressure, it is no longer necessary for hypertensive patients to monitor their diet.

It’s not true, there is no panacea pill. Of course, medications keep blood pressure normal. But the general condition still depends on what the person himself does with his body, first of all, how he eats.

For example, when getting rid of extra pounds (and hypertensive patients, as a rule, are obese), blood pressure decreases. Remember, with second-degree obesity, the risk of diabetes is already 93%, and if you are diagnosed with diabetes, the risk of heart attacks and strokes increases by 40-50%. That is, all the chances of cardiac and brain catastrophes can be significantly reduced by watching your diet!

And one more thing: if you follow your diet, you can reduce the dosage of the drug and even stop it, but, of course, under the supervision of a doctor. Very often, hypertension is caused by poor nutrition, as a result of which a person gains fat. Excess adipose tissue always causes fluid retention in the intercellular space. It puts pressure on the blood capillaries, creating a spasm. This spasm is transmitted to the arteries, which also narrow. To push blood into the narrow lumen, the heart begins to increase pressure. Reducing the amount of fat and water in the body will only help a hypertensive patient.

What to choose for hypotension and what for hypertensia?

What can you drink if you have high blood pressure – tea or coffee? Which is more suitable for use for hypertension and which for low blood pressure? While coffee obviously dehydrates the body, tea (lightly brewed) can be included in your daily drinking regimen. It quenches thirst well without negative influences or side effects.

Side effects can be felt after drinking too much of a strong caffeine drink. Studies have shown that caffeine in large quantities can increase the release of the hormones cortisol, adrenaline and norepinephrine, which cause feelings of stress. Therefore, after taking it in large quantities, fatigue increases, but at the same time the person cannot fall asleep.

Drug compatibility

You should be especially careful when drinking coffee when taking medications. Like any other stimulant, caffeine has side effects. Doctors recommend avoiding drinking hot drinks when taking medications that act to regulate heart rate.

When using sedatives, it is better not to drink coffee, as the drink will negate the effect of taking the medication. But the use of caffeine in combination with a painkiller helps enhance the effect of the drug. To weaken the pharmacological effect of coffee, it can be diluted with milk or cream.

Effect of black tea on blood pressure

Due to the stimulant content, we sometimes look at this drink with a little suspicion. Its effect is indeed reminiscent of the effects of coffee. So, is it possible to drink black tea from time to time if you have blood pressure disorders?

Do you suffer from frequent dizziness when changing your body position? Try drinking black tea regularly. It will improve the condition of hypotension - low blood pressure. On the other hand, a daily tea ceremony (as in England, for example) can normalize indicators and is recommended for hypertension. The main rule is that the drink should not be strongly brewed (strong tea can cause side effects, regardless of blood pressure readings).

People who consume 3 or more cups of black tea per day have a 21% lower risk of stroke than those who avoid it.

Recommendations from experts

If you have hypertension, you can drink coffee with some restrictions. For example, doctors recommend replacing it with cappuccino or latte. You can also drink instant drinks with added milk or cream. Never make the coffee too strong. Try to use only natural varieties to prepare the drink. In total, you can drink a maximum of 2 cups of coffee per day. Try to constantly monitor your blood pressure readings. After drinking the drink, check your pulse using a tonometer.

The timing of the drink is also of great importance. Hypertensive patients are not recommended to drink coffee immediately after sleep. Patients suffering from stage 2-3 disease must constantly monitor their general well-being and blood pressure.

Effect of coffee on blood pressure

Perhaps the best known way to raise blood pressure is through coffee and caffeinated drinks.

You can often hear that drinking coffee is a taboo for hypertension. But scientists have found that its consumption in reasonable doses does not increase the risk of vascular and heart diseases. The optimal amount is 3-5 cups per day (approximately 300-400 mg of caffeine). Even with high blood pressure, caffeine does not have a very noticeable effect. It will cause the readings to increase in the short term (for some people), but the readings will soon return to normal. Studies have shown that the human body can get used to the stimulating effect within 3-4 days and tolerate it well.

The influence of coffee

This issue deserves special attention. Coffee beans contain a substance called caffeine. This is a powerful energy drink and heart stimulant. Drinking coffee with stage 2 hypertension is especially dangerous. It can cause overexcitation, nervousness, vasospasm and even hypertensive crisis. Drinking a double dose of coffee can lead to increased adrenaline production. This is especially dangerous because blood pressure may begin to rise. The reason for this phenomenon is that caffeine affects myocyte receptors. Because of this, the number of heart contractions increases to 120-130 beats per minute.

As clinical studies have demonstrated, moderate consumption of coffee with milk for hypertension helps to increase the elasticity of blood vessels, arteries and veins. A couple of cups of an invigorating drink per day help normalize blood pressure. If you drink more per day, the effect can be exactly the opposite. The elasticity of blood vessels will decrease sharply. This can be a serious problem for hypertensive patients.

Research results

What do the latest specialized studies say? What increases blood pressure - tea or coffee? According to the findings of Australian scientists, 3 cups of tea per day reduces systolic and diastolic blood pressure; while low rates tend to rise. Consequently, the values are normalized.

The claim about the positive effect of the drink on the heart and blood vessels is based on the results of a study involving 95 volunteers (35–75 years old). One group drank natural tea 3 times a day. The other group took a placebo; although its taste was indistinguishable from the original drink, it also contained an appropriate dose of caffeine, but was not produced from a real tea plant. Six months later, people who drank the natural drink had an average increase in blood pressure of 2–3 mmHg. Art. lower than those who received placebo only.

Studies have shown that in people with low blood pressure, coffee increases systolic and diastolic blood pressure, but only in the short term. Therefore, it does not have a significant effect on hypertension.

As you can see, the answer to the question of whether tea or coffee increases blood pressure is ambiguous. On the one hand, both drinks have an antihypotonic effect. On the other hand, it is short-term, therefore, no significant increase occurs, and the condition of a person with hypertension does not worsen.

Without salt

Salt is harmful to hypertensive patients. When preparing food, you don’t need to add any salt to it at all. The body already gets enough salt from prepared foods. They always contain it - even bread, kefir and cottage cheese, not to mention cheese, sausage, and canned food.

Is it true. Salt retains fluid in the body and thereby increases blood pressure. Reducing salt intake to 5 g per day has been shown to reduce blood pressure by 10 millimeters of mercury, which is comparable to the effect after taking some antihypertensive drugs.

In addition, people with hypertension tend to be obese and are prescribed certain diets. When eating a low-calorie diet, consuming a lot of salt leads to muscle breakdown. Including the heart muscle, which naturally increases the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

For a healthy person, consuming salt up to 8-10 g per day is not dangerous, but if you have arterial hypertension, we recommend reducing it to 5 g - that is, a teaspoon of salt per day (do not forget to count the salt in prepared foods!). If the food seems bland to you, use lemon and herbs - they will give the dishes a pleasant, bright taste.

What other ways are there to increase blood pressure?

You can raise your blood pressure (except tea and coffee) using some of the measures listed below:

Maintain drinking regime. Drink at least 2.5 liters of fluid (preferably water) daily. Drink your first glass of water immediately after waking up in the morning.
High protein breakfast. Bread + cheese + eggs = perfect breakfast for high blood pressure.
Cold and hot shower. To increase blood pressure, you can use alternating cold and hot showers. This will be a great start to a new day.
Salt more. If you have hypertension, you should add less salt; if you have hypotension, you should add more salt. Sodium, which is part of salt, plays a positive role in increasing the values on the tonometer.

A person may have a hereditary predisposition to blood pressure disorders. Sometimes the disorder is caused by other diseases. If symptoms of hypertension or hypotension persist despite home treatments, consult a specialist.

Proper diet: what and how much to drink?

When visiting your doctor, you will definitely be given recommendations on nutrition and a special diet 10 for hypertension. In it you will read in detail what to eat and what to drink. The main rule for liquid is no more than 1.5 liters along with tea, soup, kefir. Eat more vegetables and fruits and less fatty and sugary foods. Study your body, your reactions to external products and factors, write it down, consult your doctor. After all, only you can observe and feel how your body will react to caffeine. The best advice is common sense and moderation.

Tea or coffee - which increases blood pressure more

Update date: 09/07/2019

In the modern world, more and more healthy people suffer from low blood pressure.

A person with hypotension knows that when symptoms recur, they should drink a cup of coffee or tea to quickly help improve their overall condition.

Today we’ll look at which drink is more effective at increasing blood pressure.

Letters from our readers

1 Effect of tea
2 Effect of coffee
3 Recommendations

Effect of tea

Black tea is a storehouse of vitamins and minerals. This noble drink contains many useful substances. But due to its high availability, many underestimate its properties, which have a healing effect on the body.

When consumed correctly, tea has the following effects:

has a positive effect on the functioning of internal organs;
strengthens the immune system;
strengthens the nervous system;
tones muscles;
improves the functioning of the digestive system, regulates stomach acidity;
fights free radicals;
reduces the risk of stroke;
quenches thirst;
protects tooth enamel from caries;
strengthens the cardiovascular system.

Positive results are achieved due to the fact that tea contains the following substances: amino acids, antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, tannins, alkaloids. The alkaloid caffeine in the drink helps normalize blood pressure. Its amount is about 2% of the total mass of raw materials.

Caffeine and tannin in tea leaves increase blood circulation and strengthen the walls of blood vessels. Low blood pressure returns to normal.

How tea copes with low blood pressure depends on the brewing process:

if you brew the drink for no more than 3 minutes, your blood pressure will increase only slightly;
from 3 to 10 minutes - blood pressure levels will increase sharply and significantly;
more than 10 minutes - the drink will lose all its healing properties and can cause harm to health.

But isn’t it then more advisable to use coffee for hypotension? After all, judging by the names of the substances, they have the same origin, which means the caffeine content should be higher in the invigorating drink than in tea. Does coffee really increase blood pressure?

Effect of coffee

Coffee is an invigorating drink made from processed coffee beans.

It contains alkaloids, amino acids, mineral salts, chlorogenic acid. The drink is popular due to the caffeine it contains.

The substance, entering the body, works as a natural energy drink:

stimulates the central nervous system;
develops resistance to stress;
increases performance;
relieves headaches;
lifts your mood, relieves depression;
has a beneficial effect on the digestive system;
has a diuretic effect, dilating the renal vessels;
constricts blood vessels in other organs, causing blood pressure to rise sharply.

However, all of the above positive properties of the invigorating drink are temporary; the effect lasts about 30 minutes. After this time, the second alkaloid, theobromine, enters the reaction. But it has the opposite effect on the body. A person’s blood pressure decreases, lethargy and drowsiness appear, and performance sharply decreases.

It is worth noting that all these characteristics apply only to natural coffee beans. Then what effect does the instant drink have?

Instant coffee contains no more than 20% of its volume of beans. The rest is occupied by dyes, flavors, preservatives, and stabilizers. European manufacturers, when producing this type of drink, use technology to remove caffeine from beans.

The decaffeination method involves treating the raw material with ethyl acetate. This substance is a solvent that is used to control insects and treat artificial leather. Therefore, you don’t always need to hope for the appearance of vigor after drinking instant coffee. This drink may not contain caffeine, but an artificial substitute.

Recommendations

The caffeine found in tea has a gentle effect on the body, since it is present in it in the form of compounds with other substances and is completely eliminated from the body over time. Coffee begins to have an effect instantly due to the pure caffeine content and stops its effect just as abruptly.

When drinking this or that drink in order to increase low blood pressure, you should remember that there should be moderation in everything. A 200 ml cup of fresh tea contains about 70 g of caffeine. A person is recommended to drink no more than 4 cups of the drink per day.

A glass of brewed coffee contains from 80 to 100 g of caffeine. You can drink a maximum of 3 cups per day without harm to your health.

By following the norms for the consumption of caffeinated drinks, you can achieve a positive effect on your well-being: perk up in the morning, increase productivity or reduce fatigue.

Why is hypertension not treated in Russia?

Hypertension, unfortunately, always leads to heart attack or stroke and death. Only constant use of antihypertensive drugs could allow a person to live.

Now there is a chance to restore blood vessels...