Sopuruchi Onwuka

Despite the popular medical advice of one or two drinks a day for men and only one drink for women, a latest published research has concluded that apart from the crave and flavors, there is absolutely no health benefit from alcohol of any dosage.

Instead routine drinking of alcohol even within the prescribed safe dosage is still associated with an increase in blood pressure readings even in adults without hypertension.

According to findings from data of seven international studies published Monday in the American Heart Association’s journal Hypertension, people who drank even one alcoholic beverage per day were more likely to have higher blood pressure when compared to non-drinkers.

Senior study author of the rpeort, Dr. Marco Vinceti, stated in a news release that the study 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,” he said, adding however that moderate drinkers although have far less risk than the blood pressure increase seen in heavy drinkers.

The analysis included data from more than 19,000 adults in the United States, Korea and Japan. Alcohol consumption was based on grams of alcohol consumed, not number of drinks, in order to keep measurements consistent across countries with differing types of beverages and sizes of “standard drinks.”

Blood pressure is measured in units of millimeters of mercury (abbreviated as mmHg), and written as two numbers, one above the other. The top or systolic reading, which represents the force of blood against artery walls when the heart contracts, is a “major risk factor for cardiovascular disease for people over 50,” according to the American Heart Association. The lower diastolic reading measures pressure in the arteries as the heart muscle rests between beats.

A normal systolic reading is typically 120 mm Hg or below but tends to rise as blood vessels weaken and narrow with age, the AHA said. A normal diastolic reading is below 80 mm Hg but begins to decline with age as arteries lose their elasticity and stiffen, at times leading to an increase in pulse rate.

After reviewing the data of all participants for more than five years, researchers found the systolic, or top number, blood pressure rose: 1.25 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg) in people who consumed an average of 12 grams of alcohol per day; 4.9 mm Hg in people consuming an average of 48 grams of alcohol per day.

In the U.S., 14 grams of alcohol equates to about a 12-ounce serving of regular beer, 5 ounces of wine or a 1.5-ounce shot of distilled spirits, the release notes.

For diastolic, or bottom number, blood pressure, it rose: 1.14 mm Hg in people consuming an average of 12 grams of alcohol per day, and 3.1 mm Hg in people consuming an average of 48 grams of alcohol per day.

Diastolic blood pressure is not as strong a predictor of heart disease risk compared to systolic, the release notes, adding that these associations were seen in males, which accounted for 65% of the study participants, but not in females. The systolic results were seen in both.

“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 coauthor 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.

“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.

Another finding: The impact of alcohol on blood pressure was even more significant if a person’s readings were already heading upward when the study began, Whelton said.

“This suggests that people with a trend towards increased blood pressure may benefit the most from low to no alcohol consumption,” he said.

High blood pressure is known as a “silent killer” and can increase a person’s risk of heart attack, stroke, chronic kidney disease and other serious conditions.

“Alcohol is certainly not the sole driver of increases in blood pressure; however, our findings confirm it contributes in a meaningful way,” Vinceti added. “Limiting alcohol intake is advised, and avoiding it is even better.”

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

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

The concept that too much alcohol raises blood pressure has been around for a long time, said Dr. Andrew Freeman, director of cardiovascular prevention and wellness at National Jewish Health in Denver.

“However, this review found relatively low levels of alcohol impacted blood pressure,” said Freeman, who was not involved with the research. “So, to me, this is yet another study showing there may not be any safe amount of alcohol.”

“In the US, you’re probably getting more than one standard drink per day,” Whelton said. “If you got a pour of wine with 14 grams of alcohol at a restaurant, you’ll want to say to your server, ‘You cheapskate, go back and pour a real glass of wine.’ We think we’re consuming one standard drink, but we’re not.”

Researchers then used statistics to plot how various amounts of alcohol affected blood pressure over time. Drinking an average of 12 grams of alcohol per day, or less than one US standard drink, produced a small rise in systolic pressure of 1.25 mm Hg over an average of five years.

“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.

But earlier research findings had suggested that moderate intake of alcohol was good for health, and actually contributed to longevity.

“If you’re drinking in a smoke-filled bar at night with friends, (your exposure) to secondhand smoke and alcohol will certainly disrupt your sleep, and both are harmful to health,” he said. “But you’re also getting the positives of socialization.”

Research on “blue zones,” areas of the world where people typically live up to and past 100, has shown the diets in these locations often include small amounts of alcohol that are routinely consumed with dinner. Is it the alcohol that helps longevity, or the tight social networks?

“It can be hard to tease out these associations,” Freeman said, adding that he gives his patients the same guidance as the AHA and WHO.

“First, I don’t recommend people start drinking,” he said. “If they do drink, they should try to really minimize it and then do their best to maintain healthy behaviors that help the heart, such as exercise and stress reduction.

“Exercise is an amazingly effective way to lower blood pressure, both systolic and diastolic, as it helps the heart relax and maintain better efficiency.”