Alcohol and High Blood Pressure: Effects and More, Explained
For example, alcohol consumption typically has been measured through self-report. If you have high blood pressure, avoid alcohol or drink alcohol only in moderation. For healthy adults, that means up to one drink a day for women and up to two drinks a day for men. This is because alcohol may affect blood vessel function and fluid levels, causing high blood pressure.This article explains how alcohol can affect blood pressure, as well as alcohol intake recommendations for people with high blood pressure. It also discusses treatment and some frequently asked questions about alcohol and high blood pressure. Even though these studies reported that participants were randomised to receive alcohol or placebo, the method of randomisation was not mentioned.
- Some medicines can make it harder for your body to control your blood pressure.
- Slurred speech, a key sign of intoxication, happens because alcohol reduces communication between your brain and body.
- However, current recommendations like those from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) focus on limiting alcohol to one drink a day for women and two drinks a day for men.
- But when you ingest too much alcohol for your liver to process in a timely manner, a buildup of toxic substances begins to take a toll on your liver.
- And while enjoying celebratory spirits in moderation is alright for most people, it’s important to be aware you can fall victim to holiday heart syndrome if you overdo it.
Estevez 1995 published data only
This is because high blood pressure very rarely causes any obvious symptoms until a serious acute event such as a heart attack or stroke. Drinking alcohol increases blood pressure and repeated drinking causes sustained high blood pressure. Your doctor will often advise you when it’s safe to start drinking alcohol again, from a medical perspective. Psychologically, however, many people feel low in mood after they’re discharged home, especially following open heart surgery. Drinking alcohol to excess can cause other serious health conditions, such as cardiomyopathy (where the heart muscle is damaged and can’t work as efficiently as it used to) and arrhythmias (abnormal heart rhythms). Too much alcohol can raise blood pressure and weight, increasing risk of a heart attack, stroke and type 2 diabetes.
- According to a 2018 study and the World Health Organization, no amount of alcohol intake is safe, so any amount may be considered too much.
- According to Chapter 10 of the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions (Higgins 2011), a funnel plot asymmetry test should not be used if all studies are of similar size.
- Having more than three drinks in one sitting temporarily raises blood pressure.
- We assessed selective reporting bias for each of the outcomes separately.
Chaudhuri 1994 published data only
- The dose of alcohol ranged between 0.35 mg/kg and 1.3 g/kg, and alcohol was consumed over five minutes and over one hour and 30 minutes.
- Now experts have reason to believe even moderate drinking carries risks.
- Study authors mentioned that acute ethanol administration caused transitory increase in BP at 20 minutes.
- But many things can make your blood sugar levels change, sometimes quickly.
- According to the published protocol, we intended to include only double‐blind RCTs in this review.
The search was conducted up to March 2019 and resulted in 6869 citations. After de‐duplication and screening of titles and abstracts, we were how does alcohol affect blood pressure left with 482 citations for further assessment. We retrieved full‐text articles for those citations and included 32 studies (Figure 1).
- However, the negative associations between alcohol consumption and CV outcomes in these countries also may relate to pervasive patterns of binge drinking (Leon et al. 2009).
- Drinking alcohol in moderation, regardless of what you are drinking, continues to be the best advice.
- Also, as noted below, data from other studies demonstrate the protective role of administered antioxidants, such as a synthetic compound that mimics the native superoxide dismutase enzyme, called a superoxide dismutase mimetic.
- Dr. Cho also warns that if you have liver dysfunction or take other medicines that are processed through the liver, your risks might be different.
Yang 2017 published data only
Even drinking a little too much (binge drinking) on occasion can set off a chain reaction that affects your well-being. Lowered inhibitions can lead to poor choices with lasting repercussions — like the end of a relationship, an accident or legal woes. Each of those consequences can cause turmoil that can negatively affect your long-term emotional health. That’s partly why people who drink may find that although they’re consuming the same amount they always have, they feel the effects more quickly or strongly — that’s especially true for older women, according to the National Institute on Aging. A slower metabolism also plays a role, as do medications — prescription, over-the-counter, even herbal remedies — that are common among older people.
Cancer risk
And drinking alcohol increases your risk of other health complications that also cause high blood pressure, like excess weight and diabetes. A Dutch study showed that heart-healthy nutrients called polyphenols in red wine help prevent heart disease, but not because of a drop in blood pressure. Research shows that the polyphenols improve the cells lining the blood vessels, and do improve blood flow and heart health. The jury is still out, though, on whether this could potentially improve high blood pressure in severe cases. Data from transgenic animal models and pharmacologic approaches strongly support a role for ethanol-induced oxidative stress in CV disease.
Stubbs 1995 published data only
