Even one alcoholic beverage per day might increase the risk of high blood pressure

The American Heart Association journal Hypertension released an analysis of seven worldwide research papers on Tuesday that found that even one alcoholic drink per day might increase blood pressure.

 

The research indicated that when the number of daily alcoholic beverages increases, blood pressure measurements may over time increase more sharply, even in persons without hypertension.

 

For the first time, the data supports a consistent rise in blood pressure measurements in both people who drank little or a lot of alcohol.

 

 

 

Alcohol intake, even at moderate doses, was linked to measurable blood pressure elevations that may raise the risk of cardiovascular events.

 

The Medical School of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia University in Italy’s Marco Vinceti remarked, “We found no beneficial effects in adults who drank a low level of alcohol compared to those who did not drink alcohol.”

 

“We were somewhat surprised to see that consuming an already-low level of alcohol was also linked to higher blood pressure changes over time compared to no consumption — although far less than the blood pressure increase seen in heavy drinkers,” said Vinceti, who is also an adjunct professor in the department of epidemiology at Boston University’s School of Public Health.

 

The World Health Organization (WHO) issued a warning earlier this year stating that there is no safe level of alcohol use that is unaffected by health.

 

“We cannot discuss an alleged safe amount of alcohol consumption. The danger to the drinker’s health begins with the first drop of any alcoholic beverage, regardless of how much is consumed. According to Dr. Carina Ferreira-Borges, acting Unit Lead for Noncommunicable Disease Management and Regional Advisor for Alcohol and Illicit Drugs in the WHO Regional Office for Europe, the only thing we can say with certainty is that drinking less is safer and drinking more is more harmful.

 

The analysis in the new study, according to co-author Tommaso Filippini from Modena, was based on grams of alcohol consumed rather than just the number of drinks, in order to prevent bias that could result from the different amounts of alcohol contained in “standard drinks” across nations and/or beverage categories.

 

Researchers examined the health information for each participant in the seven trials, which included 19,548 persons and were published between 1997 and 2021.

 

Adults who habitually drank alcohol were contrasted with non-drinkers.

 

According to the results, those who drank an average of 12 grams of alcohol per day saw their systolic blood pressure increase by 1.25 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg), while those who consumed an average of 48 grams of alcohol per day had their blood pressure increase by 4.9 mm Hg.

 

When individuals consumed an average of 12 grams of alcohol per day, their diastolic blood pressure increased by 1.14 mm Hg, and when they consumed an average of 48 grams of alcohol per day, it increased by 3.1 mm Hg.

 

Despite the fact that alcohol is not the only cause of blood pressure rises, our research shows that it does so significantly. It’s recommended to limit alcohol consumption, but eliminating it altogether is preferable, Vinceti added.