Habitual alcohol consumption is an established risk factor for hypertension. To prevent hypertension, daily alcohol consumption is generally recommended to be less than 20-30 ml in men and 10-20 ml in women. The association between alcohol consumption and hypertension is affected by various factors, including age, sex, body weight, genetic disposition, drinking patterns, smoking habits, and medication for hypertension. The difference in blood pressure between drinkers and nondrinkers tended to be more prominent in men than in women, in the elderly than in the young, in individuals with high alcohol exposure per body weight than in those with low alcohol exposure, in smokers than in nonsmokers, and in individuals not receiving medication for hypertension than in those receiving it. Regarding the effect of polymorphisms of alcohol-metabolizing enzymes on the association between alcohol consumption and blood pressure or hypertension, the findings of previous studies were inconsistent: the associations were reported to be stronger in individuals showing facial flushing after drinking (flushers) than in nonflushers in some studies, but not in others. It remains to be clarified whether the polymorphism of aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 is involved in determining the sensitivity of blood pressure to alcohol. Drinking with a meal may be effective in suppressing the increase in blood pressure induced by alcohol consumption. According to the evidence obtained from the previous studies, differences in the types of alcohol beverage may not affect the association between alcohol consumption and blood pressure, although the anti-oxidative action of wine is expected to lower blood pressure by increasing nitric oxide activity. In conclusion, the effects of the aforementioned confounders on the relationship between alcohol consumption and blood pressure should be taken into consideration when recommending the upper limit of individual alcohol consumption for the prevention and therapy for hypertension.
Ichiro WAKABAYASHI (Thu,) studied this question.