
Refer to Characteristics of included studies and Table 4 for further details regarding these studies. CUnclear risk of selection bias and attrition bias in more than one study. AUnclear risk of selection bias and attrition bias in more than one study. If you hope that moderate drinking is good for you, that idea is falling out of favor. She notes that it can cause an enlarged heart (alcoholic cardiomyopathy), which weakens your heart and makes it harder to pump blood. And if you drink heavily and quickly, Goldberg says it can set you up for heart arrhythmias, which are abnormal or irregular heartbeats.

Karatzi 2005 published data only

And the alcoholic beverage industry is a major economic force, responsible for more than $250 billion in sales annually in the US. The same amount of alcohol for someone with high blood pressure varies based on factors like individual health status, age, weight, fitness level, and more, according to Louis Morledge, MD, a board-certified internist at Northwell Health. If you already have high blood pressure, your doctor may have advised you to drink alcohol in moderation and cut back on your overall alcohol intake.
Vazquez‐Fresno 2012 published data only
Based on nine RCTs in which participants consumed alcohol repeatedly over days, these review authors reported that alcohol increases SBP by 2.7 mmHg and DBP by 1.4 mmHg. However, they excluded studies for which the duration of BP observation was less than 24 hours and articles published in non‐English languages. We believe that inclusion of those studies will provide useful information about the dose‐related magnitude and time‐course effect of alcohol on blood pressure in people with both normal and elevated blood pressure.
- Therefore, it is difficult to determine a priori selection of primary and secondary outcome measures for the included studies.
- And the balance of risk and benefit likely varies from person to person, based on individual factors such as genetics and lifestyle factors.
- Study authors mentioned that acute ethanol administration caused transitory increase in BP at 20 minutes.
- Merle Myerson is a board-certified cardiologist with specialties in sports medicine, lipids, women’s health and prevention of cardiovascular disease.
- Recent research suggests that automated ambulatory blood pressure monitors are more reliable than manual sphygmomanometers, particularly because automated monitors reduce white coat anxiety (Mirdamadi 2017).
Li 2016 published data only

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines light drinking as three drinks or fewer per week and moderate drinking as no more than one drink per day for women and up to two per day for men. A 2021 review found that in women, drinking even a moderate amount of alcohol can increase the risk of hypertension. Drinking alcohol regularly can increase your risk of hypertension (high blood pressure).

- We are also moderately certain that high‐dose alcohol decreased blood pressure within six hours, and the effect lasted up to 12 hours.
- To help navigate these occasions, we’ve sought advice from expert doctors on which types of alcohol you should avoid if you’re trying to protect your heart health.
- Among the 34 included studies, only four studies included hypertensive participants.
- While past research has suggested a potential benefit of regularly consuming a small amount of alcohol each day, newer research has called those findings into question and noted that more studies are still needed.
- Depending on what you eat or drink and your personal body chemistry, it could produce a rather unpleasant order.
Thus, in our review, we used up to 30 g alcohol intake for men and how does alcohol affect blood pressure up to 20 g alcohol intake for women as a moderate dose, and above this limit as a high dose. In studies where sex‐specific results were not provided, we categorised dose based on the dominating sex in terms of study participation. This systematic review provides us with a better understanding of the time‐course of alcohol’s acute effects on blood pressure and heart rate.
Amy Scanlon, MD, alcoholism treatment FACC, is a practicing private practice cardiologist at Consultants in Cardiology and the current team cardiologist for Seton Hall University. Dr. Scanlon has authored several published articles including the American College of Cardiology’s Preparticipation Cardiovascular Screening for Adolescent and Young Adult Athletes module. He frequently lectures and participates in speaking engagements for the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology. Alcohol has long been considered a “social lubricant” because drinking may encourage social interaction.
Braggio 1992 published data only
The trial was registered with the Australian https://ecosoberhouse.com/ New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ANZCTR). We classified the remaining studies as having high risk of bias because the protocol was not registered and the study identifier was not reported. Therefore, it is difficult to determine a priori selection of primary and secondary outcome measures for the included studies. Both reviewers (ST and CT) rated the certainty of evidence independently by examining risk of bias, indirectness, inconsistency, imprecision, and publication bias. Both review authors (ST and CT) rated the certainty of evidence independently by examining risk of bias, indirectness, inconsistency, imprecision, and publication bias.