Objectives
The longitudinal relationship between
coffee use and
hypertension is still controversial. Cytochrome P450 1A2 (
CYP1A2) is the main responsible enzyme for the metabolism of
caffeine. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of
coffee intake on the risk of developing
hypertension needing antihypertensive treatment in individuals stratified by
CYP1A2 genotype.
Design
We assessed prospectively 553 young White individuals screened for stage 1
hypertension.
Coffee intake was ascertained from regularly administered questionnaires. Incident physician-diagnosed
hypertension was the outcome measure. Genotyping of
CYP1A2 SNP was performed by real time PCR.
Results
During a median follow-up of 8.2 years, 323 individuals developed
hypertension. For carriers of the slow *1F allele (59%), hazard ratios of
hypertension from multivariable Cox analysis were 1.00 in abstainers (reference), 1.72 (95%CI, 1.21–2.44) in moderate
coffee drinkers (
P = 0.03), and 3.00 (1.53–5.90) in heavy drinkers (
P = 0.001). In contrast, hazard ratios for
coffee drinkers with the rapid *1A/*1A genotype were 0.80 (0.52–1.23,
P = 0.29) for moderate drinkers and 0.36 (0.14–0.89,
P = 0.026) for heavy drinkers. In a two-way ANCOVA, a gene ×
coffee interactive effect was found on follow-up changes in systolic (
P = 0.000) and diastolic (
P = 0.007) blood pressure. Urinary epinephrine was higher in
coffee drinkers than abstainers but only among individuals with slow *1F allele (
P = 0.001).
Conclusion
These data show that the risk of
hypertension associated with
coffee intake varies according to
CYP1A2 genotype. Carriers of slow *1F allele are at increased risk and should thus abstain from
coffee, whereas individuals with *1A/*1A genotype can safely drink
coffee.
