The UK Chief Medical Officers’ (CMO) low risk drinking guidelines advise that people should not regularly drink more than more than 14 units a week to keep health risks from alcohol low. If you do choose to drink, it is best to spread your drinks throughout the week. Polyphenols may help with health issues related to digestion, heart problems and diabetes, and eating them may reduce people’s risk of hypertension. Heavy alcohol use often causes chronically high blood pressure, also known as hypertension. Hypertension increases your risk of many health problems, including strokes, heart attacks and kidney problems. Methodological differences between studies might have affected measurement of the reported outcomes.
- Because the alcohol content in one standard drink varies among different countries (ranging from 8 g to 14 g), we chose the Canadian standard for an alcoholic beverage, which is 14 g of pure alcohol (CCSA).
- 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).
- Rossinen 1997 and Van De Borne 1997 reported withdrawal of vagal tone and reduced heart rate variability within an hour after alcohol consumption; this explains the increased heart rate.
- Alcohol can affect blood pressure through a variety of possible mechanisms.
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- Changes in blood pressure and heart rate after alcohol consumption were not the primary outcomes of interest in most of the included studies.
- Thus alcohol decreases blood pressure initially (up to 12 hours after ingestion) and increases blood pressure after that.
- We contacted the author of Rosito 1999 to request additional information regarding the method of blinding used.
- Drinking excessive alcohol is considered one of the most common causes of raised blood pressure.
For low doses of alcohol, we found low‐certainty evidence suggesting that SBP, DBP, and MAP fall within the first six hours after alcohol consumption. High‐dose alcohol consumption increased HR by approximately 6 bpm in participants, and the effect lasted up to 12 hours. 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 ‘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).
Does the type of alcohol (beer, wine, spirits) make a difference?
There was a particular risk for bias in the studies that met the eligibility criteria, and there is still the potential risk for residual confounding. There are also a number of opportunities to expand on the research, including understanding more about how alcohol intake influences blood pressure among women. Remember, it’s essential to drink responsibly and be mindful of your alcohol intake.
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Hypertension is rising in prevalence due to the rising mean age of the population as well as due to the increased prevalence of poor dietary patterns and other Alcohol Use Disorder lifestyle factors. Therefore, potential interventions could target weight loss, a sedentary lifestyle, appropriate sodium/potassium intake changes, smoking, and excessive alcohol intake. That said, if you have specific concerns about your blood pressure and heart health, or feel that your drinking habits have a negative effect on your health and well-being, it’s always a good idea to let your doctor know. “Limiting or completely quitting drinking can lead to improvements in your blood pressure, especially if you’re a regular or heavy drinker,” says Sheth.
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- Chen 1986 did not report consumption duration nor timing of measurement of BP and HR.
- However, they excluded studies for which the duration of BP observation was less than 24 hours and articles published in non‐English languages.
- This systematic review provides us with a better understanding of the time‐course of alcohol’s acute effects on blood pressure and heart rate.
- The blood alcohol concentration (BAC) rises faster in women because they have a smaller volume of distribution (Kwo 1998).
- Drinking within these limits can help reduce the risk of hypertension and other cardiovascular issues.
It’s true, all types of alcohol can have a negative effect on your BP levels. If anything, it’s more about how much you have, and how often you drink, that makes a difference. Find out the link between high blood pressure and alcohol here, plus serving suggestions and how to lower BP does alcohol lower bp levels to preserve your heart health (beyond saying “no” to that bar crawl). One of the most appropriate ways to reduce alcohol-induced high blood pressure is to reduce your alcohol intake as much as possible.
Summary of findings 1. Effect of high‐dose alcohol compared to placebo .
The evidence synthesised in this review was collected from 32 RCTs in 767 participants. Of the 32 studies, two studied low‐dose alcohol, 12 studied medium‐dose alcohol, and 19 studied high‐dose alcohol. The sample size in the meta‐analysis for low‐dose comparison was not adequate to assess the effects of low doses of alcohol on BP https://ecosoberhouse.com/ and HR; however, we believe that the direction of the change in BP and HR was correct. For medium doses and high doses of alcohol, participants represented a range in terms of age, sex, and health condition.
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Drinking too much can also trigger sleep problems and lead to weight gain, which can harm your blood pressure, heart health, and your whole body. Over time, heavy drinking also makes many other serious health problems more likely, including heart disease, heart failure, liver disease, alcohol use disorder, and certain types of cancer. For low doses of alcohol, we found that one glass of alcohol had little to no effect on blood pressure and increased heart rate within six hours of drinking.
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.