Among the habits that influence blood pressure, alcohol consumption is one of the most widespread and normalized in the adult population. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that More than 1.2 billion people in the world have this condition.
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Light to moderate alcohol consumption is associated with increases in blood pressureand stopping drinking even less can lead to clinically significant reductions, according to a study from the Tokyo Institute of Science. Published in the journal specialized in cardiology JACCthe findings of this research show that small changes in alcohol consumption can be a strategy to improve and control blood pressure.
It is established that the intake of alcoholic beverages contributes to high blood pressure, which in turn is one of the greatest risk factors for cardiovascular disease. The AHA/ACC 2025 guideline – which is the set of recommendations issued each year by the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology with the most recent evidence in the field of cardiology – makes recommendations outside of medications to manage high blood pressure and one of them is abstinence or limiting alcohol to one or fewer drinks a day for women and two or less for men.
However, the impact of changes in drinking habits from light to moderate, particularly cessation of consumption, remains uncertain, especially in women and across different types of beverages. What the study from the Japanese institution did was determine if stopping drinking is associated with an improvement in blood pressure levels in habitual drinkers and if starting to drink affects this symptom in people who do not usually drink frequently.
The researchers analyzed information from 359,717 annual checkup visits between 2012 and 2024. At those appointments, alcohol consumption was reported by patients, as was the number of drinks per day. Among participants who stopped drinking, lower blood pressure was observed depending on the level of consumption. Women who stopped drinking one or two drinks a day had a decrease of 0.78 mmHg in systolic and 1.14 mmHg in diastolic. In contrast, men experienced decreases of 1.03 and 1.62 respectively.
On the contrary, those who began consuming alcohol showed higher blood pressure levels, with similar trends in both sexes.
Beverage-specific analyzes revealed that different types of alcohol (beer, wine, or spirits) did not significantly alter the effects on blood pressure, suggesting that the quantity is what really affects these levels rather than the components of the cup.
“Our study shows that when it comes to blood pressure, the less you drink, the better. The more alcohol you drink, the more your blood pressure rises. Previously, scientists believed that drinking small amounts of alcohol might be acceptable, but our results suggest that actually not drinking alcohol is best,” Takahiro Suzuki, lead author of the study, said in a statement.
