Coffee is fine for those with high blood pressure

While coffee can make your heart race, it’s unlikely to worsen your high blood pressure. — dpa

Coffee raises your blood pressure?

This belief may remain widespread, and yet there’s no research showing that this is actually the case.

In fact, you can safely drink at least four cups of coffee a day, even if you have high blood pressure, experts from the German Heart Foundation say, noting that there is no scientific evidence that caffeine is bad for hypertension.

Coffee can briefly raise your blood pressure, but that is usually if you aren’t used to caffeine.

Your blood pressure rises less – if at all – if you drink coffee regularly.

That effect kicks in after you’ve been drinking coffee habitually for around one to two weeks, the Foundation says.

This applies to green and black tea as well, as both are also stimulants.

However, you should try to drink only a maximum of 400mg of caffeine a day if you’re thinking about heart health, says the Foundation.

That’s more than most are likely to exceed as it is the equivalent of around four to five cups of filter coffee a day.

If you’re planning to measure your blood pressure though, do so before your coffee break or about 30 minutes afterwards so that you can be sure that your cup of coffee isn’t skewing the reading.

Meanwhile, try to avoid caffeine tablets, the Foundation advises, as these can have a negative impact on your blood pressure. – dpa