Even occasionally drinking alcohol increases blood pressure (BP), a new study shows. Scientists recommend zero alcohol consumption for the best cardiovascular health outcomes. Takahiro Suzuki, MD, MPH, from the Institute of Science Tokyo and St Luke’s International Hospital, Tokyo, Japan, and colleagues from Japan and the US, reported the corresponding data in a manuscript published online Wednesday in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC). “Our study shows that when it comes to BP, the less you drink, the better,” Dr. Suzuki said in a news release from the American College of Cardiology (ACC) on Wednesday. “The more alcohol you drink, the higher your BP goes. 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." Many studies have demonstrated how drinking alcohol raises BP, especially heavy consumption. However, data on the BP impacts of light-to-moderate alcohol consumption are lacking. Light-to-moderate alcohol consumption means ≤1 drink per day for women, and ≤2 drinks per day for men. The investigators in this study examined the associations between consumption of alcohol versus not consuming alcohol and BP changes, sex-specific differences, light-to-moderate alcohol intake and the types of alcoholic beverages consumed. Between October 2012 and March 2024, adults who underwent annual checkups at a Japanese preventative medicine center had their BP measured across visits and this data was used for the present study. Alcohol consumption was self-reported by the participants, and 1 drink was defined as 10g of ethanol. The investigators adjusted for demographics, clinical history and lifestyle behaviors when analyzing BP changes. The primary outcome in this study was the change in systolic BP (SBP) and diastolic BP (DBP) between the initial visit and the follow-up visit to the preventative medicine center. A total of 359,717 visits from 58,943 participants were included in the study. Cohort 1 (53,156 visits from 25,621 patients; median age=50.5 years; 52.1% women) was the alcohol cessation cohort, where habitual drinkers either ceased drinking or continued their habitual drinking. These patients had dose-dependent reductions in BP. In women, cessation of 0.5-1.0 alcoholic drinks per day did not significantly change systolic BP (SBP) and had an average change of –0.41 mmHg in diastolic BP (DBP). When women had a cessation of 1.0-2.0 alcoholic beverages per day, the reductions were greater overall in SBP and DBP (-0.78 mmHg and –1.14 mmHg). In men, cessation of 0.5-1.0 alcoholic beverages per day had no significant change in SBP nor DBP. However, cessation of 1.0-2.0 alcoholic beverages per day showed an average SBP change of –1.03 mmHg and DBP change of –1.62 mmHg. Cohort 2 was the initiation cohort (128,552 visits from 31,532 participants; median age=50.0 years; 70.4% women), where participants were non-drinkers and either began drinking alcohol or did not initiate drinking. Participants in cohort 2 showed dose-dependent BP increases after they started drinking alcohol. This effect was similar in both men and women. “These findings suggest that alcohol cessation, even from low levels, could prevent or treat hypertension,” said Harlan Krumholz, MD, editor-in-chief of JACC, in Wednesday's news release. “This is especially important as treatment targets for BP have been lowered.” Source: Suzuki T, Fukui S, Yoneoka D, et al. Blood pressure after changes in light-to-moderate alcohol consumption in women and men: Longitudinal Japanese annual checkup analysis. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2025 October 21 (Article in press). Image Credit: Veaceslav – stock.adobe.com