Even one alcoholic drink a day can raise blood pressure, says study

A new study suggests that one alcoholic drink a day can increase systolic blood pressure.

“We found no beneficial effects in adults who drank a low level of alcohol compared to those who did not drink alcohol,” said senior study author Dr Marco Vinceti, a professor of epidemiology and public health at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia in Italy, in a statement.

The study discovered that the negative impact of alcohol has continued to rise over the years for systolic blood pressure even for men and women who consumed very little alcohol every day.

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As per the study published in the journal Hypertension on Monday, small amounts of alcohol also raised the lower or diastolic blood pressure reading, but only in men.

“Both systolic and diastolic readings contribute to (cardiovascular) risk and go hand in hand, but of the two, systolic blood pressure is definitely the most important risk factor in adults,” said study co-author Dr Paul Whelton, chair in global public health at Tulane University’s School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in New Orleans and president of the World Hypertension League.

As per the American Heart Association, a normal systolic reading is typically 120 mm Hg or below but tends to rise as you grow older since the blood vessels weaken and narrow with age.

A normal diastolic reading is below 80 mm Hg but begins to descend with age as the arteries toughen which leads to an upsurge in pulse rate.

“Alcohol is certainly not the sole driver of increases in blood pressure; however, our findings confirm it contributes in a meaningful way,” CNN quoted Vinceti, an adjunct professor in the Department of Epidemiology at Boston University’s School of Public Health as saying. “Limiting alcohol intake is advised, and avoiding it is even better.”

“However, this review found relatively low levels of alcohol impacted blood pressure,” CNN quoted Dr Andrew Freeman, director of cardiovascular prevention and wellness at National Jewish Health in Denver, who was not involved with the research, as saying. “So, to me, this is yet another study showing there may not be any safe amount of alcohol.”

Potential risk with increase in consumption of alcohol

The study analysed data from seven studies conducted in Japan, South Korea and the United States between the years 1997 and 2021.

The participants, who were adults from the age of 20 to about 70, were asked about their alcohol intake.

Then the researchers used the statistics to determine how the amounts of alcohol consumed by various people affected their blood pressure over time.

“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,” Vinceti said.

The systolic blood pressure of people who consumed an average of 48 grams of alcohol per day, rose nearly 5 mm Hg over the same time frame as compared to the nondrinkers.

“That would certainly move you from pre-hypertensive to hypertensive, just as eating an excessive amount of sodium, too few fruits and vegetables and not getting enough physical activity will push you in the wrong direction,” Tulane’s Whelton said.

(With inputs from agencies)

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