Researchers have examined data from over 100,000 people and found a correlation between blood pressure and alcohol consumption. And one of the researchers behind the study believes that there might be some good news hidden in the numbers.
Many might have an idea that red wine is good for heart health. Some might even assume that a couple of glasses of red wine a day can be good for blood pressure. A previous study by Harvard researchers showed that moderate red wine consumption is associated with lower blood pressure in women.
However, doctors in Denmark have now studied the alcohol intake and blood pressure of a large population group, and although it turns out that the assumption about red wine may not be true, one of the researchers behind the study believes that the numbers could turn out to be good news for a specific group.
The results showed that there is no evidence that red wine or any other type of alcohol lowers blood pressure – in fact, all types of alcohol increased blood pressure.
Different types of alcohol raise blood pressure.
In total, doctors and researchers from the university hospitals in Copenhagen analyzed data from 104,467 men and women aged 20 to 100 years. The data was obtained from the Herlev-Østerbro study, which contains information about thousands of Danes. The participants in the study reported how many units of red wine, white wine, dessert wine, beer, and spirits they drank per week, and their blood pressure was measured.
The results showed that blood pressure increased for each unit of alcohol consumed. And this applied to all types of alcohol – including red wine, which many have believed has a beneficial effect on women's blood pressure. Both systolic and diastolic blood pressure increased, the researchers write in the study.
"We found no convincing evidence of a beneficial effect of red wine for men or women," the researchers write in the study.
The researchers believe it is the total amount of pure alcohol – that is, ethanol – one consumes that determines how much blood pressure rises. Overall, the researchers found that participants who drank more than 35 units per week had systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure that were 11 mmHg and 7 mmHg higher, respectively, than those who drank 1 to 2 units per week.
They also found that for each drink the participants consumed per week, the systolic blood pressure increased by up to 0.17 mmHg and the diastolic blood pressure by up to 0.15 mmHg. Gorm Boje Jensen, one of the doctors behind the study, tells Dagens Medicin that the results may also contain good news. For if you have high blood pressure and drink a lot of alcohol, one of the easiest ways to lower your blood pressure is to cut down on alcohol intake.
The study is published in the scientific journal The American Journal of Medicine.