Effects of cessation of caffeinated-coffee consumption on ambulatory and resting blood pressure in men

Abstract

Coffee consumption has been weakly linked to high blood pressure (BP). The hypothesis that cessation of caffeinated-coffee consumption lowers ambulatory BP was tested in men in a randomized trial. One hundred eighty-six middle-aged, normotensive, male, habitual caffeinated-coffee consumers were recruited. Of these subjects, 150 had sufficiently complete, ambulatory BP measurements for analysis. After 2 months of standard caffeinated-coffee consumption, subjects were randomized to consume an equal amount of the same standard caffeinated coffee or a standard decaffeinated coffee, or to discontinue coffee consumption for 2 months. Diet composition, body weight and exercise did not change. Resting BP and heart rate were not different between the groups before and after intervention. In comparison with the continued caffeinated-coffeegroup (control), the decaffeinated-coffee group revealed significant reductions in mean ambulatory systolic BP during the morning (−4.0 ± 11 mm Hg; p =0.014), afternoon (−5.3 ± 10 mm Hg; p = 0.001) and evening (−3.2 ± 10 mm Hg; p = 0.003) hours, reductions in mean ambulatory diastolic BP during the afternoon (−1.8 ± 10 mm Hg; p =0.063) and evening (−1.8 ± 10 mm Hg; p = 0.059) hours and no change in ambulatory heart rate. The group randomized to no coffee revealed significant reductions in ambulatory systolic BP during the morning (−4.1 ± 9 mm Hg; p = 0.007), afternoon (−3.3 ± 10 mm Hg; p =0.023) and evening (−2.2 ± 11 mm Hg; p = 0.015) hours, significant reductions in ambulatory diastolic BP during the afternoon (−2.6 ± 6 mm Hg; p = 0.006) and evening (−2.1 ± 6 mm Hg; p = 0.016) hours, and no significant change in ambulatory heart rate. This suggests that cessation of caffeinated coffee results in significant reductions in ambulatory systolic and diastolic BP in normotensive men, which are not apparent from resting BP measurements.