Discussion Board

2 weeks ago I stopped drinking coffee and Diet Coke. It was easier than I thought it would be.
I felt tired and had a slight headache for a couple of days otherwise I felt ok.

Within 4 days my normally high blood pressure started dropping and now after 2 weeks I dropped the first pill out of the 8 (4 different meds) I take daily.
I want to reduce my hypertension meds as much as I can as the side effects are not nice.

I mentioned to my GP that I was giving up caffeine for my BP and he said that it wouldn't make any difference
In fact he said that if anything my BP would rise as caffeine has a diuretic effect.
Where do they learn such rot?

I now drink Rooibos (Red Bush) tea from South Africa. No caffeine and high in antioxidants.

Most of the coffee mugs now have a red tide mark on the inside so I suppose my insides now have a red hue.

You know with some meds you are supposed to go off them gradually, right?

Didi

The effect of caffeine on BP seems to be an individual thing which can vary greatly. I monitor my BP at home and have found no effect after consuming coffee and tea regularly. (My BP is excellent on the McDougall regime after a lifetime of high readings.) It is interesting that I also have never experienced caffeine withdrawal symptoms such as others relate, when stopping all caffeine as I have done from time to time. Perhaps some of us are simply not sensitive to caffeine, although I am very sensitive to drugs in general and cannot easily tolerate BP meds.

It seems for every person who notices an effect, you will find another who does not. This only points up the relative worthlessness of anecdotal accounts. Rather than relying on such statements, I think it best to review Dr McDougall's Newsletter articles and Hot Topics for a more scientific opinion. One can also investigate these effects on one's own physiology and act accordingly.

I agree with afreespirit. My HBp has not been affected near like I wish it could be, and I have lived caffeine free for yrs. I cannot handle any caffeine at all, not even the decaf stuff, which as a tiny amt of it and no choc either. It has come down some, but not to where i can do without the meds darn it all. I am doing the McDougall WOE and exercising... will keep at it anyway. I check my Hbp off and on, then decided not to worry about it, sometimes for a while...

"There are two substances found in coffee beans, cafestol and kahweol, which raise total cholesterol, “bad” LDL-cholesterol and triglycerides.2 On average, cholesterol is increased by 10%; but very potent boiled coffee can raise total cholesterol by as much as 23% (that could mean a 50 mg/dl increase for someone starting with an average cholesterol of 210 mg/dl). Triglycerides may be increased by a similar amount. Coffee will raise the systolic blood pressure (top number) by 5 to 15 mmHg and the diastolic (bottom number) by 5 to 10 mmHg.3 People who are heavy coffee drinkers may also have a tendency to abuse themselves in other ways, such as consuming more heart damaging, high-fat, high-cholesterol foods.

Coffee drinking rightly deserves its reputation as “a bad habit.” For more help with this addiction please refer to two previous newsletters found in my archives: July 2004: Coffee - Pleasure or Pain, and October 2004: Tea Time Increases Life Time."

http://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2005nl/ ... 00fav5.htm

Coffee also contains acrylamides, which is why I mostly stick to tea these days, in addition to avoiding any toasted or browned foods and high cooking temperatures.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/acrylamide/MY00062

I'm an intermittant tea drinker, and it does not seem to affect my bp at all. I monitor it at home and did some experiments with tea because of the bp concern. nada.

Tea with caffiene does affect my sleep however, so I don't drink it past the afternoon.

I have a box of Rooibos you can have. That stuff is nasty!

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I have a box of Rooibos you can have. That stuff is nasty! [/quote]
Yup. I used to drink it and then found out it has tannins in it just like regular tea and it will block iron absorption.

I have a box of Rooibos you can have. That stuff is nasty! [/quote]
Yup. I used to drink it and then found out it has tannins in it just like regular tea and it will block iron absorption.[/quote]
Great! I can throw the used teabags around my rhubarb bushes..they love tannin in their diet.
Passionfruit too.