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Drinking Green Tea May Interfere With Blood Pressure Medication

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Despite the health benefits of Green tea, such as reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke and various types of cancer, it may not be a good idea for people with high blood pressure to consume the herbal drink, according to a new study The Los Angeles Times reported.

A new report in the journal Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics said that green tea may interfere with blood pressure medicine and block its benefits, "probably due to one of the antioxidants for which it is prized," The Los Angeles Times reported.

For the study, researchers measured the blood pressure of ten healthy adults in their 20s after taking nadolol, a blood pressure-lowering medication.  They had to drink three cups of tea or water every day for two weeks and then take a 30-milligram dose of nadolol. After a two-week break, the volunteers switched to the other beverage and took the drug again.

When researchers tested the participants' blood, they found that nadolol was less operational after the consumption of green tea. The saw that the concentration of the blood pressure medication was 76 percent lower after drinking green tea for two weeks than it was after drinking water.

 They also found that the amount of nadolol in the participants' urine was 80 percent lower after they drank green tea regularly.  Based on this finding, researchers concluded that the medicine was not absorbed by the body as well.

Green tea isn't the first beverage found to interfere with the body's ability to absorb medication. Fruit juices, including grapefruit, can also interfere with the absorption of blood pressure medicine, as well.

Sotiris Antoniou, the spokesman of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society and a consultant pharmacist in cardiovascular medicine, told the Utah People's Post that high blood pressure patients who still want to drink green tea should leave a four-hour gap between cups and take their medicines.

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