"Is One Drink Okay?"...Blood Pressure Drops for Both Men and Women When Abstaining Even from Small Amounts

Japanese Research Team Analyzes Health Data from 60,000 People
Blood Pressure Drops After Quitting Alcohol in Both Men and Women
Type of Alcohol Does Not Matter... "Abstinence Helps Prevent Hypertension"

A new study has found that quitting alcohol, even in small amounts, leads to lower blood pressure. The greater the amount of alcohol consumed before quitting, the more significant the reduction in blood pressure. This effect was observed in both men and women.

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On December 16, The Asahi Shimbun reported that a research team from Tokyo University of Science, Seiruka International Hospital, and other institutions analyzed large-scale health checkup data from approximately 60,000 people and announced these findings.

While alcohol consumption has long been recognized as a risk factor for hypertension, there has been no clear conclusion about the effects of abstaining from light to moderate drinking (defined as no more than two drinks per day for men and one drink per day for women). In particular, there has been a lack of data regarding women.

The research team analyzed 359,717 health checkup records from 58,943 individuals who underwent medical examinations at Seiruka International Hospital between 2012 and 2024 to investigate the relationship between blood pressure and alcohol consumption. The type of alcohol and daily intake were recorded at each checkup, with 10 grams of pure alcohol counted as one drink. The analysis also took into account factors such as age, body mass index (BMI), hyperlipidemia, diabetes status, dietary habits, and smoking status.

The results showed that women who quit drinking after consuming one to two drinks per day experienced a decrease of 0.78 mmHg in systolic blood pressure and 1.14 mmHg in diastolic blood pressure. For men, the reductions were 1.03 mmHg and 1.62 mmHg, respectively. In both men and women, the more alcohol they had consumed prior to quitting, the greater the drop in blood pressure after abstaining.

Conversely, individuals who started drinking after previously abstaining saw their blood pressure rise. The more they drank, the greater the increase in blood pressure, and this trend was observed in both men and women.

Changes in blood pressure were found to be unrelated to the type of alcohol consumed, whether beer, wine, whiskey, or soju.

The research team also published these findings in an American medical journal.

Dr. Takahiro Suzuki, a cardiologist at Seiruka International Hospital, explained, "This is the world's first study to confirm that abstaining from alcohol, even in small amounts, lowers blood pressure in both men and women."

Professor Takeo Fujiwara, a public health expert at Tokyo University of Science, emphasized, "Although there are claims that small amounts of alcohol are good for the body, we found no effect on lowering blood pressure. In fact, even abstaining from small amounts of alcohol helps prevent hypertension."

The research team plans to conduct further studies on how changes in light alcohol consumption affect the long-term risk of cardiovascular diseases such as myocardial infarction and stroke.