Currently, coffee is the second most consumed beverage in the world, only behind water. In almost all cultures, this substance is part of the daily life of citizens, since they want to take it at any time. But is it healthy to drink coffee? Does it affect our blood pressure or, on the contrary, does it help reduce it?
For decades, there have been many scientific studies related to caffeine consumption and blood pressure. However, there is no one that concludes in a general or decisive way the cause-effect relationship between the health of a person and this drink, since there are numerous variables to take into account.
This is explained by the theory that where it was stated that coffee cannot be generally correlated with cardiovascular problems, since the person’s habits (tobacco, alcohol, sugars, etc.) come into play, the amount of this drink consumed per day and that we have a certain type of gene.
After analyzing thousands of medical records, Hamer discovered that depending on the genetic lineage to which the individual belongs, they may have a greater or lesser risk of cardiovascular problems if they consume coffee. The researcher analyzed that people who are from the gene that synthesizes the CYP1A2 enzyme, metabolize caffeine quickly and without problems. However, if we are from the lineage of the gene that makes the alternative enzyme CYP1A2*1F, we will metabolize caffeine in the blood more slowly and maintain high levels for longer.
Caffeine, like other less famous compounds, momentarily increases blood pressure, but this effect only lasts if the level of caffeine in the blood reaches high levels. However, if the enzyme responsible for metabolizing this substance does so quickly and efficiently, the individual should not have any problems, since blood pressure quickly returns to its original values.
To reinforce this theory, in this, they analyzed 2,000 people with cardiovascular problems and another 2,000 healthy in this sense, and the genetic lineage to which they belonged and the habits of each one were taken into account. The study concluded that people with CYP1A2*1F who drink three 250-milliliter cups of coffee a day are 36% more likely to have a heart attack than those who only drink one. And if the intake increased to four cups, the risk skyrocketed to 64%.
On the other hand, in individuals belonging to the CYP1A2 lineage, the opposite effect occurred. For a reason that is still unknown, people in this group who drank two or three cups of coffee a day had a lower risk of cardiovascular problems than those who consumed less or did not consume at all.
However, and despite the support that this research has had years later with research such as the experts recommend drinking between 3-4 cups of coffee a day for healthy people, as well as not abusing this drink for hypertensive people, since they can only to know to which lineage they belong if they carry out a genetic analysis.
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