Hypertension leads to an increased risk of other health problems, including stroke, heart attack, and heart disease. The heart circulates blood throughout the body by creating pressure that moves the blood through blood vessels. Blood pressure is a measurement of how hard the blood is pushing against the walls of the blood vessels as the heart pumps blood. High blood pressure can be bad for someone’s health because it can cause stress on the walls of blood vessels and organs, leading to problems like kidney disease, heart attack and stroke. To prevent various health complications, including high blood pressure, people should try to limit their alcohol consumption to one or two glasses infrequently. Completely refraining from consuming alcohol lowers the risk of some of the health risks listed above.

• Researchers were unable to study in-depth the relationship between age, blood pressure, and alcohol intake.
• Alcoholism is a complex genetic disease influenced by multiple genes, such as ADH1B, ALDH2, GABRA2, CHRM2, KCNJ6 and AUTS2.
• We recorded the washout period of each included study reported by study authors to decide if there was risk of a carry‐over effect.
• Rather, it’s believed to be caused either by the lifestyle of those who use wine in moderation or by the flavonoids that wine contains.

We contacted the study authors for missing or unclear information relevant to the review using contact information provided in their respective articles. If the dose of a study was not reported in the article and the study author did not respond to our request, we excluded that study. Alcohol has been reported to diminish baroreceptor sensitivity, which is a key factor in regulating blood pressure (Abdel‐Rahman 1985; Rupp 1996). Baroreceptors or stretch receptors are mechanoreceptors located on the arch of the aorta and the carotid sinus. They can detect changes in blood pressure and can maintain blood pressure by controlling heart rate, contractility, and peripheral resistance.

Stubbs 1995 published data only

The result is presented in Table 6; there was no significant difference between results given by the two models. A dose of 14 grams of pure alcohol/ethanol or less was defined as a low dose of alcohol. We excluded 450 trials after reviewing the full‐text articles, and we recorded the reasons for exclusion (see table Characteristics of excluded studies table). The search was conducted up to March 2019 and resulted in 6869 citations.

Most experts agree, though, that does not show a significant enough drop to advise drinking for an entire population. We took several steps to minimise the risk of selection bias to identify eligible studies for inclusion in the review. We also checked the lists of references in the included studies and articles that cited the included how does alcohol affect blood pressure studies in Google Scholar to identify relevant articles. Furthermore, we contacted authors of included studies to obtain all relevant data when information was insufficient or missing. 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.

Data and analyses

As a result, peripheral resistance and blood volume are increased, leading to elevated arterial blood. If you drink alcohol, limit consumption to no more than two drinks per day for men and one drink per day for women. Generally, one drink equals a 12-ounce beer (5% content), 8-ounce malt liquor (7% content), a 5-ounce glass of wine or 1.5 ounces of 80-proof liquor. Heavy alcohol users who cut back to moderate drinking can lower their top number in a blood pressure reading (systolic pressure) by about 5.5 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg) and their bottom number (diastolic pressure) by about 4 mm Hg. The terms “genetic” and “hereditary” are largely interchangeable when discussing alcohol addiction. Genetic factors refer to a person’s DNA and genes passed down from parents to children.

One of the long-term effects of alcohol on your heart is alcoholic cardiomyopathy. This is when your heart-pumping function gets weaker and your heart gets larger due to changes from heavy alcohol use over a long period of time. If you have high blood pressure, doctors recommend decreasing your total alcohol intake or not drinking alcohol at all. A lot of people shouldn’t drink at all for specific reasons — family history of alcoholism or heart or liver disease, he says. But if you have no hereditary risk factors, a glass (for women) or up to two (for men) may be justified, depending on your age.

Cushman 1994 published data only

Alcohol detox usually takes 7–10 days, but the withdrawal process can differ for everyone. People detoxing from alcohol should do so under medical supervision to avoid complications. If you have high blood pressure, it’s important to discuss any risk factors with your healthcare provider, including alcohol consumption. This article explains the connection between alcohol and hypertension, explores the effects of different types of alcohol, and discusses safe alcohol consumption.

• Any disagreements regarding inclusion or exclusion of studies were resolved by discussion between review authors.
• Karatzi 2005 mentioned the method of blinding of participants, but it is not clear whether involved personnel were blinded as well.
• While detoxing at home may seem convenient and easy, it can have significant risks.
• The jury is still out, though, on whether this could potentially improve high blood pressure in severe cases.