Coffee Effect on Blood Pressure

Statement of the Problem

"Does coffee affect a human's blood pressure"

Background Information

There have been studies that show that blood pressure does increase on people who never drink caffeine in their beverages. No blood pressure changes have been found in people who regularly drink caffeine. So People with high blood pressure can drink coffee. The studies where conducted by the Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases and a study published in the British Medical Journal. This is a fourth grade science project that was conducted by my son.

Hypothesis

I think that a person's blood pressure will increase after they drink coffee.

Materials

Three family members to have their blood pressure tested
A coffee machine
Coffee that is already ground (I used Volcanica Coffee)
A blood pressure testing machine (found at a local Wal-Mart store or drug store)

Procedures

Make your coffee make sure you measure how much coffee each tester’s get it should be around 10 ounces for each tester
Then measure your blood pressure (make sure you measure your blood pressure before your drink your coffee)
Record your measurements for Systolic, Diastolic and pulse
Have your tester’s drink the coffee
After all your testers finished drinking there coffee go back to the blood pressure reader and see if each tester’s blood pressure was raised or lowered
YOUR ALL DONE!

Data and Observations

Mom		Systolic	Diastolic	Pulse
Experiment 1	Before	119	74	64
	After	107	67	58
Experiment 2	Before	120	71	81
	After	131	110	78
Experiment 3	Before	116	64
	After	118	70
Average	Before	118	70	73
	After	119	82	68
	Change	0.3	12.7	-4.5

Grandmother's		Systolic	Diastolic	Pulse
Experiment 1	Before	121	82	69
	After	109	71	66
Experiment 2	Before	119	69	79
	After	129	106	73
Experiment 3	Before	132	105	75
	After	126	94	93
Average	Before	124	85	74
	After	121	90	77
	Change	-2.7	5.0	3.0

Dad's		Systolic	Diastolic	Pulse
Experiment 1	Before	121	82	69
	After	109	71	66
Experiment 2	Before	122	69	72
	After	114	71	73
Experiment 3	Before	128	70	68
	After	123	78	72
Average	Before	124	74	70
	After	115	73	70
	Change	-8.3	-0.3	0.7

Coffee effect on blood pressure

Conclusions

In conclusion my hypotheses was wrong, coffee does not increase blood pressure. During the experiment, two of the testers had no increase to their blood pressure and one of the tested actually experienced a decrease in blood pressure.

Recommendations

If this test would be repeated, I would test people with high blood pressure and see the effect. I would also do test’s with caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee to see if there would be a blood pressure effect.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank my mom and grandma for being my testers. And a special thanks to my dad for technical support and for being one of my testers. I also want to thank Wal-Mart for supplying the blood pressure tester.

Bibliography

Internet, Encyclopedia, Book, Interview

Internet

“Does Coffee/Caffeine Consumption Contribute to high Blood Pressure?”, Matt Pitcher, http://www.ineedcoffee.com/03/bloodpressure/

Encyclopedia

“Caffeine”, Microsoft Encarta Reference Library 2003, 2003

Book

Blood Pressure, Mayo Clinic Family Heath Book, New York, 1990, page 798.

Disclaimer
The information on this page is provided as an information resource only, and is not to be used or relied on for any diagnostic or treatment purposes. This information was gathered purely as a fourth grade science project and the information should not be used as a substitute for professional diagnosis and treatment. Please consult your health care provider before making any healthcare decisions or for guidance about a specific medical condition.