A new study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology highlights that even minor reductions in alcohol intake can lead to meaningful decreases in blood pressure, challenging previous assumptions about light-to-moderate drinking.
Even light-to-moderate alcohol consumption can lead to significant increases in blood pressure, according to a study published today in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC). The findings suggest that reducing or halting alcohol intake, even in small amounts, can lead to notable improvements in blood pressure, providing a potential strategy for managing hypertension.
The study underscores the well-documented link between alcohol consumption and elevated blood pressure, a primary risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD).
The 2025 ACC/AHA High Blood Pressure Guideline recommends nonpharmacological strategies, such as reducing or eliminating alcohol intake, to manage high blood pressure.
However, the specific impact of changes in light-to-moderate drinking on blood pressure has been unclear, particularly for women and different types of alcoholic beverages.
“Our study set out to determine whether stopping alcohol use is associate [sic] with improvement in BP levels among habitual drinkers and whether starting alcohol use affects BP among non-habitual drinkers,” lead author Takahiro Suzuki, from St. Luke’s International Hospital and the Institute of Science Tokyo, said in a news release. “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 BP management, a critical public health issue.”
The researchers analyzed data from 359,717 annual health check-ups from 58,943 adults, with a median age of 50.5 years, collected from 2012 to 2024 in Japan. Alcohol consumption was self-reported and categorized by standard drinks per day.
The study used a statistical model to account for demographics, medical history and lifestyle factors to track changes in systolic and diastolic blood pressure between visits.
Participants were divided into two cohorts: habitual drinkers and non-drinkers at the first visit. This allowed the researchers to observe the effects of alcohol cessation or continued drinking among habitual drinkers and the effects of new alcohol use among non-drinkers.
The results showed that participants who stopped drinking experienced lower blood pressure levels, with women who stopped drinking 1-2 drinks per day seeing a decrease of 0.78 mmHg in systolic and 1.14 mmHg in diastolic blood pressure. Men who stopped drinking at the same levels experienced reductions of 1.03 mmHg and 1.62 mmHg, respectively.
Conversely, individuals who began drinking showed increased blood pressure.
The type of alcohol consumed (beer, wine, or spirits) did not significantly change the impact on blood pressure, indicating that the quantity of alcohol is the primary factor in blood pressure changes.
“Our study shows that when it comes to BP, the less you drink, the better. 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,” Suzuki added.
JACC Editor-in-Chief Harlan Krumholz, the Harold H. Hines Jr Professor of Medicine at Yale University School of Medicine, highlighted the study’s implications, noting that the results challenge long-standing assumptions about the negligible impact of light drinking on blood pressure.
“These findings suggest that alcohol cessation, even from low levels, could prevent or treat hypertension,” Krumholz said in the new release. “This is especially important as treatment targets for BP have been lowered.”
The study’s observational design means it cannot definitively prove cause-and-effect relationships. Unmeasured influences, such as changing drinking habits or detailed sodium and potassium intake, and self-reported alcohol consumption might have affected the results, and the predominantly Japanese urban sample may limit its applicability to other populations.
Source: American College of Cardiology