Objective Blood pressure (BP) increases when body surface exposures to cold stimulate, but the effect of cold drinking on BP has not been fully evaluated. The arm of this study was to investigate the affects of cold water drinking on BP.

Methods This study included 44 healthy young students (female 19 and male 25) with a mean age of 22.5 ± 0.9 years. After 12min rest, the right brachial BP was measured for 3 times with 2 min internal. Then the student was asked to drink 300 ml warm (30 degrees C) or cold (4 degrees C) water within 30 seconds in random order, BP was measured immediately and repeatedly with 2 min interval for 22 minutes. In the next day, the study was performed again but the dinks were crossover. The increase amplitude (IA) of BP was calculated from the BP before and after drinking immediately. The area under curve (AUC) of SBP and DBP was calculated.

Results Water drinking, whether cold or warm, induced transient but significant SBP and DBP increase; Cold water drinking induced higher SBPIA (12.3 ± 6.7 vs 7.7 ± 6.5 mmHg, p < 0.05), DBPIA (7.0 ± 6.2 vs 2.7 ± 4.5 mmHg, p < 0.05) and DBPAUC. After cold water drinking, the SBPIA and DBPIA, as well as SBPAUC and DBPAUC seemed higher in female than in male.

Conclusions Water drinking can induce transient but significant BP increase. A drink of 4 degrees C 300 ml water increased DBP by 3mmHg at least for 22 minutes in the healthy young students.