Best way to reduce high blood pressure? Quit drinking

By Stephen Beech

Going sober is the best way to reduce high blood pressure, according to new research.

Current health guidelines suggest women should drink no more than one alcoholic drink a day and men no more than two.

But the new Japanese study shows that even such "light-to-moderate" alcohol consumption is associated with increases in blood pressure, also known as hypertension.

Packing in the booze altogether – or just drinking less – may lead to "clinically meaningful" blood pressure reductions, according to the findings.

The study, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC), shows that even slight changes in alcohol consumption can affect blood pressure.

Doctors say that boozing is a well-established contributor to elevated blood pressure, which is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease.

Health guidelines currently recommend abstinence or limiting alcohol consumption to low levels.

But, until now, the impact of changes in light-to-moderate drinking habits – particularly going sober – on blood pressure has remained unclear, especially among women and different types of drinks.

Lead author Dr. Takahiro Suzuki said: “Our study set out to determine whether stopping alcohol use is associated with improvement in blood pressure levels among habitual drinkers and whether starting alcohol use affects blood pressure among non-habitual drinkers.

“We focused on understudied groups, particularly women, light-to-moderate drinkers and consumers of different beverage types, to better understand how even low levels of alcohol consumption influence blood pressure management, a critical public health issue.”

The Japanese team analyzed 359,717 annual health check-up visits from 58,943 adults with an average age of 50 from 2012 to 2024. Participants reported their daily alcohol intake.

The study tracked changes in systolic and diastolic blood pressure between visits, using a statistical model that accounted for demographics, medical history and lifestyle factors.

The participants were divided into two groups: habitual drinkers at the outset, and non-drinkers at the outset.

Dr. Suzuki said the first group was created to understand the association between blood pressure changes and alcohol cessation or continued habitual drinking, while the second group was created to understand the association between blood pressure changes and new onset drinking or no drinking at the following visit.

Among participants who stopped drinking, lower blood pressure was observed based on drinking level.

Women who stopped drinking one to two drinks per day saw a decrease of 0.78 mmHg in systolic blood pressure and 1.14 mmHg in diastolic blood pressure.

Men who stopped drinking at similar levels experienced reductions of 1.03 mmHg and 1.62 mmHg, respectively.

But participants who started drinking during the study period showed higher blood pressure based on drinking level, with similar trends across both sexes.

Drink-specific analysis revealed that the type of alcohol -whether it be beer, wine or spirits - didn't significantly alter the blood pressure effects.

That suggests that the quantity of alcohol intake is the "primary driver" of blood pressure changes rather than the type of drink, according to the research team.

Dr. Suzuki, from St. Luke’s International Hospital and the Institute of Science in Tokyo, said: “Our study shows that when it comes to blood pressure, the less you drink, the better.

"The more alcohol you drink, the higher your blood pressure goes."

He added: "In the past, scientists thought that small amounts of alcohol might be okay, but our results suggest that no alcohol is actually best.

"This means that stopping drinking, even at low levels, could bring real heart health benefits for both women and men."

JACC editor-in-chief Professor Harlan Krumholz noted that the results challenge long-standing assumptions that low levels of alcohol do not meaningfully affect blood pressure.

Krumholz, of Yale University School of Medicine, said: “These findings suggest that alcohol cessation, even from low levels, could prevent or treat hypertension."

He added: “This is especially important as treatment targets for blood pressure have been lowered.”