Will Alcohol Raise Blood Pressure Levels
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
A high or moderate alcohol intake will raise blood pressure in some people, but the effect may depend largely on age and cholesterol levels says a new study from Japan.
It seems that alcohol affects blood pressure more in men in their fifties or older. The study showed that fifty year olds who drank even moderate amounts of alcohol generally had higher blood pressure than non-drinkers.
In younger men only heavy drinkers showed elevated blood pressure, and even then the effect depended on a man's levels of "good" HDL cholesterol.
In contrast, HDL levels had no bearing on the blood-pressure effects of alcohol in older men.
HDL is the good kind of cholesterol that is known to protect the heart and blood vessels.
The findings suggest that older men's blood pressure is more sensitive to the effects of drinking, but this should not meant that older men should universally abstain from alcohol.
Even though moderate or heavy drinking can boost blood pressure, small amounts of alcohol also have heart-protecting effects.
Labels: alcohol-and-blood-pressure, diet-and-blood-pressure, high blood pressure
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