Why hypertension patients must avoid coffee, banana

Caffeine is a stimulant that, by itself, may increase the heart rate and blood pressure temporarily. For most patients, moderate use of caffeine is not adverse. However, taking medications with caffeine may pose a series of challenges to the medication’s response, reports Sade Oguntola.

 

Are you aware that certain food items and drinks can play a major role in development of hypertension? Do you know that a wrong choice of food can also play a very important role in the treatment and control of blood pressure?

Well, many foods are shown to be beneficial, but coffee can raise blood pressure. In fact, experts say that an occasional cup of coffee or caffeine-filled drink may be harmful for patients being treated for high blood pressure because it can reduce the effect of the medication to lower blood pressure.

In fact, they warned that when going for blood pressure test, it is important to stop consuming caffeine-filled drinks two days before the test because it may lead to an incorrect diagnosis.

There have been several studies showing that caffeinated coffee can abruptly increase the blood pressure. It was also found that caffeine may be a major factor affecting blood pressure, and health experts suggest that it can trigger cardiovascular events like heart failure.

Normal blood pressure is an average systolic blood pressure of less than 120 mm Hg and an average diastolic pressure of less than 80 mm Hg, “120 over 80.”

The top number measures the pressure in arteries when the heart beats. The bottom number measures the pressure between beats. A person has high blood pressure when the average top number is above 140 mm Hg, the bottom number is above 90 mm Hg, or both.

High blood pressure raises the risk of heart disease and stroke, the leading causes of death globally. It is called the “silent killer” because most people do not have any symptoms when blood pressure is too high.

 

Hypertension, a global health issue

Hypertension is a global health issue that affects more than one billion people worldwide. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that hypertension is responsible for at least 51 per cent of deaths due to stroke and 45 per cent of deaths due to heart disease.

In the study, the team from Western University and Lawson Health Research Institute in Ontario, measured the effect of occasional coffee consumption on blood pressure, and especially how its consumption affects the action of calcium channel blockers.

Calcium channel blockers are a medication used for the lowering of blood-pressure and are often prescribed for patients with hypertension. It helps to relax and widen the blood vessels, making it easier for blood to flow and so reduce blood pressure.

The researchers involved 13 people with an average age of 52 with normal blood pressure. In the study, they showed that the combination of felodipine, a Calcium channel blockers, and coffee led to higher levels of blood pressure than taking if only felodipine was taken.

They, therefore, suggested that it may be because caffeine blocks the positive effect of the drug on the blood vessels.

 

Coffee’s effect on hypertension drugs

Most people can control their high blood pressure and reduce their risk of heart disease. Usually, medical doctors in lowering high blood pressure may recommend making changes in diet and exercise to get blood pressure under control. In other cases, medications may be prescribed.

“There are different hypertension medicines and with different mechanisms in the body. They are prescribed based on factors such as their mode of action, the severity of blood pressure and its complications and other co-existing health conditions such as obesity, high blood cholesterol level and diabetes,” said Professor Rassaq Adebayo, a consultant cardiologist, Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Complex, Ife-Ife, Osun State.

According to him, sometimes hypertension drugs are also prescribed with consideration for the patient’s diet, too.

“Some anti-hypertensives can cause the body to retain potassium. So, we caution them on taking such food items that are rich in potassium such as banana because it can lead to excess potassium in the body.

“Now in managing hypertensive patients that have complications like heart failure, you combine drugs that cause potassium loss with that which will cause potassium retention,” Adebayo, Secretary, Nigerian Cardiac Society, said.

Interestingly, he said studies have proven that intake of fruits and vegetables, especially those with high potassium content, may help to lower blood pressure.

Although an Indian researcher in 1999 postulated that banana contains some chemical constituents that lower blood pressure and had generated a lot of controversy, he declared that this is yet to be ascertained by other studies years after.

However, Professor Adebayo declared, “bananas are not anti-hypertensive, but they may be helpful in persons with hypertension. But patients on hypertension medicines that cause potassium retention are always cautioned on intake of potassium-rich foods. Too much potassium can cause irregular heartbeats and palpitations.”

 

How caffeine affects blood pressure

Caffeine can cause a short and sharp increase in blood pressure, but the cause is not exactly clear. Caffeine is a known stimulant, but its impact in blood pressure could be a result of two specific factors. The first is that it might block production of a hormone that is needed to keep arteries wide.

 

Hypertension and regular intake of coffee

Not everybody has the same acute reactions to caffeine. Tolerance is completely unique and differs from person to person. But “intake of coffee is best avoided by patients with hypertension that experience irregular heartbeat, and especially those also having heart problem or that find their condition worsening.’’

 

Foods and drinks that are bad for blood pressure

It is important to be aware of foods that are more likely to affect the blood pressure negatively. It is essential to understand which foods to avoid and which foods should be approached with moderation. These includes:

• Alcohol: Studies have shown that drinking more than one drink per day can actually increase the blood pressure by several points.
• Grapefruit juice: It dangerously magnifies the effect of the blood pressure drug- felodipine.
• Orange and apple juices: This can also lower the blood pressure- drug beta blockers.

Juice taken four hours prior to drug intake did not have an effect. Thus, it should be possible still to take grapefruit, orange and apple juices while on affected medications provided there is a sufficient time interval.