Coffee action regular drinking coffee is good for lowering blood pressure.

Drinking coffee regularly may have a positive effect on lowering blood pressure, but smoking counteracts that effect, according to a Swiss study.

Researchers at the University of Vaud in Lausanne, Switzerland, reported in a new issue of the British academic journal Human Molecular Genetics that they investigated blood pressure, coffee drinking habits and the status of an enzyme in 16,000 people and found a link between the three.

The study showed that the enzyme encoding CYP1A2 plays a crucial role in the liver's process of breaking down caffeine, and people who were more active in the enzyme were more likely to drink coffee, while their blood pressure was generally lower than those who were less active in the enzyme.

Previous studies have linked excessive caffeine intake to elevated blood pressure and insomnia, but Idris Gasu, lead author of the new report, said that while coffee consumption raises blood pressure in the short term, long-term persistence has the opposite effect. This is similar to the effect of jogging on blood pressure-jogging increases blood pressure, but consistent jogging exercise can prevent cardiovascular disease.

The study also found that coffee's blood pressure-lowering effects only applied to nonsmokers, as smoking affected the activity of CYP1A2 enzymes, thereby counteracting coffee's beneficial effects.