Hypertension linked to heavy drinking

According to British researchers the relationship between heavy drinking and high blood pressure is more significant than previously thought.

The researchers from Bristol University say other research has found that heavy alcohol intake is a risk factor for hypertension (high blood pressure) but such studies were blurred by factors such as diet, smoking, exercise levels and socio-economic status.

The study by the Bristol team has it seems revealed a more positive link between heavy drinking and hypertension.

The team led by Dr Sarah Lewis focused on people who have a mutation on a gene which affects their body's ability to get rid of alcohol.

The body produces an enzyme which removes alcohol from the body called aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2) and the genetic mutation leads to an inability to get rid of alcohol.

Individuals with this mutation often suffer facial flushing after drinking alcohol along with intense nausea, drowsiness, headache and other unpleasant symptoms and therefore drink much less than those without it.

The Bristol researchers looked at studies which were mainly done in Japan where the ALDH2 gene variant is common.

They compared the blood pressure of people with the ALDH2 gene and compared it to the blood pressure of those who have the mutation.

The researchers found individuals with the ALDH2 gene, who had an average alcohol intake of around three units per day, had strikingly higher blood pressure than those with the gene mutation, who tend to drink only very small amounts, or no alcohol at all.

Dr. Lewis says the study shows that alcohol intake may increase blood pressure to a much greater extent, even among moderate drinkers, than previously thought.

The researchers say as inheritance of these genetic variants does not seem to affect lifestyle factors other than alcohol intake, so an association between ALDH2 genotypes and blood pressure indicates that alcohol intake has an effect on blood pressure.

They say the findings support the suggestion that alcohol has a marked effect on blood pressure, at least for Japanese men but also say more large-scale studies are needed to confirm the finding in more people, and to improve the estimates of the effect that alcohol intake has on blood pressure.

The research is published in the the Public Library of Science (PLoS) Medicine journal.