Alcohol and High Blood Pressure: Effects and More, Explained

Additionally, doses of over 240 mL were also able to reduce diastolic blood pressure. Diastolic blood pressure is the pressure in the arteries between heartbeats. A study from 2019 looked into the effects of aged white wine consumption in males with a high risk of cardiovascular disease. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) notes that if a person has hypertension, they may have a higher risk of conditions such as heart attack, stroke, and heart disease.

Editor in Chief, Harvard Heart Letter; Editorial Advisory Board Member, Harvard Health Publishing

High blood sugar and high levels of “bad” non-HDL cholesterol raise the risk of heart disease. To help manage cholesterol and blood sugar, try some of the same healthy habits that help lower blood pressure. Follow your healthcare professional’s advice on how to manage cholesterol and blood sugar. “While it’s difficult to know exactly what is causing the trend, we do know that certain factors play a role in the likelihood of developing high blood, such as diet and exercise,” Dr. Davis says. Carrying extra weight and experiencing obesity is another factor that can increase blood pressure in kids, Dr. Davis adds.

Safe Alcohol Consumption

We do not think participants were anticipating any significant influence on blood pressure or heart rate after drinking. We planned on conducting sensitivity analyses on studies based on their level of risk of bias (high‐risk studies versus low‐risk studies). Most of the included studies had similar risk of bias across all domains except for performance bias and detection bias, for which risk arises from blinding of participants, personnel, and outcome assessors.

• To understand how much alcohol is too much, it may be helpful to know the definitions of excessive drinking.
• More RCTs are needed to study the effects of low‐dose alcohol to better delineate the dose‐response effects of alcohol on BP and heart rate.
• Some examples of aerobic exercise that can help lower blood pressure include walking, jogging, cycling, swimming and dancing.

deLorenzo 1988 published data only

So, we decided to conduct a sensitivity analysis of the included studies based on the blinding condition (Table 7). We observed a greater reduction in blood pressure after a moderate dose of alcohol consumption for the unblinded studies, which was probably due to the presence of a heterogeneous population. For high‐dose alcohol studies, we did not find any significant difference between blinded and unblinded studies. Several RCTs have reported the magnitude of effect of alcohol on blood pressure, but because those trials are small, their findings are not sufficient to justify a strong conclusion.

Completely refraining from consuming alcohol lowers the risk of some of the health risks listed above. Although some of those effects can occur without alcohol consumption, avoiding alcohol helps decrease the risks. Recent data suggest that moderate and heavy drinking contributes to high blood pressure in men and women. Alcohol consumption increases the amount of calcium that binds to the blood vessels.

Liang 2012 published data only

Additionally, the American Heart Association states that the idea that red wine is good for the heart may be untrue. The organization suggests the results of studies that report the heart benefits of red wine may instead have a basis in lifestyle factors other than alcohol. According to the CDC, the reported health benefits of moderate alcohol consumption may be inaccurate. Read on to learn more about alcohol and blood pressure, as well as what drinks may benefit a person who has hypertension and when to talk with a doctor.

Ajani 2000 published data only

And, in fact, the study also showed that drinking one or fewer drinks per day was related to the lowest likelihood of dying from a stroke. However, Dr. Cho points out that how does alcohol affect blood pressure more recent data shows that there may be no amount of alcohol that is truly safe. “The myth that wine is beneficial for heart health is no longer true,” she states.

Kawano 1992 published data only

Whether or not your child is currently diagnosed with high blood pressure, all parents should be aware of the risk, and implement heart-healthy lifestyle choices for their kids whenever possible. What parents should be most concerned about are the long-term impacts of not treating high blood pressure. The long-term effects of hypertension include damage to body organs, like the heart, kidneys, eyes, and brain. It’s also a top cause of atherosclerosis, the clogging of the arteries, says Dr. Sing. Common medications lower diastolic blood pressure (and systolic blood pressure, as well). Potassium intake is key to keeping a healthy tone in your body’s blood vessels.

Kelbaek 1987 published data only

• Agewall 2000 measured blood pressure upon arrival of participants and did not measure blood pressure after the intervention.
• In Figure 9, Figure 10, and Figure 11, we observed slight asymmetry in the funnel plot that was probably due to heterogeneity rather than to publication bias.
• We excluded articles if the citation seemed completely irrelevant or was identified as a review or observational study after the title and abstract were read.
• Buckman 2015, Van De Borne 1997, and Fazio 2001 also reported reduced baroreflex sensitivity following alcohol consumption.

Chen 1986 reported that two participants in the alcohol group dropped out of the study for unknown reasons, so data analyses were based on eight participants in the alcohol group and on 10 participants in the control group. Because the reasons behind withdrawal were not mentioned in this study, we considered this study to have high risk of bias. We used GRADEpro software to construct a https://ecosoberhouse.com/ ‘Summary of findings’ table to compare outcomes including change in SBP and DBP and HR (GRADEpro 2014). In addition, we included illustrative risks to present findings for the most important outcome (change in systolic blood pressure). For multi‐arm trials, if a study reported more than one intervention arm, we identified the relevant intervention arm and included that in the review.