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Why shouldn't people with high blood pressure drink alcohol?

Why shouldn't people with high blood pressure drink alcohol?

Every day in clinical work, I have seen proposal too many too many patients with high blood pressure because of heavy drinking. Therefore, the habit of drinking alcohol is really not conducive to the control of hypertension. In addition to the fact that alcohol consumption can promote hypertension, alcohol consumption can also reduce the efficacy of antihypertensive drugs, which is another important reason why alcohol consumption is not recommended for hypertensive patients.

As for some patients who have difficulty quitting drinking, Dr. Zhang suggests drinking in moderation. So, how much is appropriate?

Men: Daily alcohol intake should not exceed 25g-30g, which is equivalent to 750ml of beer, 300ml of red wine, two taels of low white wine and one tael of high white wine.

Women: Daily alcohol intake should not exceed 15g, which is equivalent to 400ml of beer, 150ml of red wine, one tael of low white wine and half a tael of high white wine.

This is Dr. Zhang's specific advice on drinking for people with high blood pressure, and I hope it will help those who love to drink and have high blood pressure.

To find out the truth about the effects of alcohol on blood pressure, why don't we take a walk with alcohol into the body.

Alcohol is a small molecule substance, once into our body, the body will immediately alert, in the fasting state, alcohol can be diffused into the stomach wall within 1 minute, into the blood circulation. When the stomach is full of food, alcohol has less chance to contact the stomach wall and can only be obediently absorbed with the food into the small intestine.

The liver is the most important factory for metabolizing alcohol, and will collect and process the absorbed alcohol, and with the help of the tool, alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH), convert it into final energy to be consumed or converted into fat to be stored. Since the tool (ADH) is limited in number, the ability to convert alcohol is restricted, and when a large amount of alcohol comes in, there will be a portion of the alcohol that is too late to be processed and converted, and it will go directly into the blood circulation and flow through the lungs, which give full play to their attitude of mastery, and excrete some of the alcohol through respiration. The skin excretes a small amount of alcohol through the sweat glands, and the kidneys excrete some of the alcohol through the urine. This is probably where the "smell of alcohol" comes from.

But alcohol is not a light, it will rely on the "crowd" (alcoholism) on the body's major organs to produce direct toxic effects, will disrupt the normal secretion of each organ metabolism. When it passes through the kidneys, it induces the kidneys to excrete important minerals needed by the body, such as magnesium and calcium ions, and inhibits the excretion of sodium ions, leading to a shortage of magnesium ions in the body, which causes constriction of the walls of blood vessels and capillaries, and an increase in blood pressure.

Alcohol also directly damages the heart's cardiomyocytes, causing them to weaken and degenerate, and scientists have found in autopsies of alcoholics that the heart is enlarged and weighs twice as much as a normal heart. Chronic alcoholism alcohol poisoning of the heart is one of the causes of high blood pressure, heart disease.

Alcohol enters the liver and the intermediate product of metabolism, acetaldehyde, prompts the adrenal glands of the kidneys to secrete endogenous hypotensive hormones (norepinephrine). Alcohol also increases the secretion of cortisol; activates the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, etc., which ultimately leads to a sustained increase in our blood pressure and hypertension.

Of course, we have to be clear that although alcohol has many harmful effects, small amounts of alcohol have minimal destructive power in our body's powerful metabolic system. Therefore, there is a positive correlation between the limit of alcohol consumption and blood pressure, that is to say, moderate and small amounts of alcohol consumption will not have a negative impact on blood pressure, but only long-term and heavy alcohol abuse, which will certainly lead to hypertension and cardiovascular disease.

Therefore, the Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents emphasize that alcohol consumption must be moderate, do not drink alcohol if you can not drink, and the amount of alcohol consumed is less than 25 grams/day for men and less than 15 grams/day for women. This is equivalent to less than 750 milliliters of beer; 250 milliliters of wine; and 50 milliliters of high liquor for men per day. For women, it is less than 450 milliliters of beer; 150 milliliters of wine; and 30 milliliters of liquor per day.

Author: kun zhang

National Level II Public Nutritionist, National Registered Nutrition Technician, Hengdian Nutrition + Nutrition Ambassador, Headline No. kununhang original creator

When you have high blood pressure, it's best to give up alcohol! This is the advice that many people give to people with high blood pressure. We all have the experience that after drinking alcohol, our heart beats faster and we feel that the blood flow rate has increased. This means that alcohol has an excitatory effect on both our heart and blood vessels, which naturally causes an increase in blood pressure.

There is also a persistent problem with the increase and fluctuation of blood pressure after alcohol consumption. In hypertensive patients, the increase in heart rate will be more pronounced after drinking alcohol, while blood pressure will drop temporarily. It is not until the next day that the blood pressure rises significantly. This increases the magnitude of blood pressure fluctuations, and hypertensive patients are therefore more likely to experience cerebral hemorrhage, cerebral infarction, and myocardial infarction after drinking alcohol.


High blood pressure itself is more damaging to our heart function, and alcohol also accelerates the decline of our heart function. One study found that people who drink regularly have severely impaired left ventricular systolic and diastolic function and increased ventricular thickness, indicating that these people already have poor heart function.

Drinking alcohol also affects the efficacy of antihypertensive drugs. As we all know, many medicines need to be transformed and degraded by the liver in order to exert normal efficacy and reduce adverse drug reactions. Alcohol degradation is also dependent on liver action, so it is likely that drug-alcohol interactions will occur, thus making the antihypertensive effect of the drug much less effective and increasing the number of unwanted adverse reactions.

People who drink a lot of alcohol also have certain requirements for their next dishes. They are usually those dishes with heavier flavors, and people with high blood pressure will unknowingly eat a lot more salt. As we all know, a high-salt diet is the most important cause of elevated blood pressure. In addition, many of the next drink dishes are high-fat, high-energy food, which also contributes to the continuous rise in blood pressure in hypertensive patients.

As you can see, drinking alcohol is harmful to people with high blood pressure, and it is best for people with high blood pressure to give up alcohol.

First of all, we do not advocate drinking alcohol for hypertensive patients, but it is not true that hypertensive patients absolutely cannot drink alcohol. Excessive alcohol consumption is also one of the risk factors for the development of hypertension. The prevalence of hypertension is positively correlated with the amount of alcohol consumed. Small amounts of alcohol over a long period of time will cause a mild increase in blood pressure, while excessive alcohol consumption will cause a significant increase in blood pressure.

In hypertensive patients taking antihypertensive medication with blood pressure controlled in the normal range, a transient drop in blood pressure and fainting may occur after drinking alcohol because of alcohol's inherent ability to dilate blood vessels and lower blood pressure. Moreover, alcohol interacts with most antihypertensive drugs, increasing the risk of hypotension and other adverse effects. Therefore, alcohol consumption is not recommended for hypertensive patients taking antihypertensive medications.

Drinking alcohol can cause sympathetic nerve excitation, which is manifested in high blood pressure and fast heart rhythm. Experiments have shown that drinking 30 milliliters of alcohol per day may increase the systolic and diastolic blood pressure by two to five millimeters of mercury, which will definitely have an effect on the increase of blood pressure in the long term. Therefore, for patients with severe hypertension who are not taking antihypertensive drugs, long-term heavy drinking is not recommended. However, for patients with mild to moderate hypertension, there is no absolute taboo on drinking alcohol, and occasional small amounts of alcohol will not have adverse effects.

The authoritative interpretation of Pharmaceutical Affairs, unauthorized reproduction, plagiarism will be punished.

The cause of hypertension is still unclear. Hypertensive patients can only take drugs to lower blood pressure to maintain blood pressure stability, thereby reducing the probability of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Drinking alcohol is not conducive to controlling the rise and fall of blood pressure in hypertensive patients, and may lead to excessive fluctuations in blood pressure causing hypertensive emergencies or cerebral hemorrhage and other symptoms. If you take some of the blood pressure medication will be directly with alcohol to play a chemical reaction, causing adverse reactions or toxic effects, the consequences will be unimaginable.

Ethanol is an important component of alcohol, ethanol acts on the central nervous system of the human body, will make people after drinking alcohol central nervous system to produce a sense of excitement, the contractility of the heart will also greatly accelerate the beating, the output will also be increased, so much so that it will lead to the release of other vasoconstrictive substances such as adrenaline increased, which will lead to increased blood pressure. Therefore, long-term alcohol consumption by hypertensive patients will increase the risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases.

In addition, hypertensive patients should also pay attention to the regularity of diet, eat more fruits and vegetables, eat less fried food, more aerobic exercise, such as swimming, fast running and so on, which are conducive to good health.

Instructor: Lu Zhengqi, Professor, Chief Physician, Doctoral Supervisor, M.D., Director of Department of Neurology and Specialty Director of Neurology I, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University.

Specialties: cerebrovascular disease, demyelinating diseases, central nervous system infections, headaches, Parkinson's disease and dementia.

If you find this article useful, please feel free to like or recommend it to your friends and follow [Medlink Media].

Strictly speaking, people with high blood pressure are allowed to drink alcohol in small amounts.The 2017 Chinese consensus on the diagnosis and treatment of hypertension advocates a daily alcohol intake of <25 g for men and <15 g for women, and also pays attention to the effect of alcohol on drug efficacy. The amount of pure alcohol (g) = the amount of alcohol consumed (ml) × the alcohol content (%) × 0.8. 25 grams of alcohol is equivalent to 25-50 ml of white wine (½ tael-1 tael), 100-150 ml of wine (2-3 tael), and 250-500 ml of beer (½ catty-1 catty).

However, people with high blood pressure should never drink large amounts of alcohol.It can spike blood pressure and damage blood vessels, triggering dangerous events such as heart and brain attacks.

Below, "ask the doctor" for your detailed introduction to the dangers of drinking alcohol in patients with high blood pressure.


Single large drink: elevated blood pressure

If alcohol intake exceeds 25g, the liver has a limited processing rate and the alcohol accumulates in the bloodstream, which can have a significant pressurizing effect:

(1)Alcohol excites the sympathetic nerves that control the heart rhythmThis increases blood pressure directly by elevating the heart rhythm and increasing cardiac output;

(2)Alcohol promotes the secretion of several hormones that increase blood pressure.Such as adrenocorticotropic hormone, adrenocorticotropic hormone, which will cause the "renin-angiotensin-aldosterone" system to open up a channel of elevated blood pressure;

(3)Alcohol causes abnormal electrolyte transfer across human cell membranes, such as promoting the entry of calcium ions into cells, which increases vascular tension. Typically, the more alcohol you drink in a single session, the higher your blood pressure rises.

After a single large amount of drinking raises blood pressure to a certain level, it can induce hypertensive patients to develop crisis situations such as cerebral hemorrhage and myocardial infarction. Data show that the stroke mortality rate of heavy drinkers is three times higher than that of infrequent drinkers.


Chronic heavy drinking: abnormal lipid metabolism, elevated blood pressure

A single heavy drinking session will raise the blood pressure quite a bit from its original base level, while long-term heavy drinking will raise this base level of blood pressure. In addition, long-term heavy drinking interferes with lipid metabolism, greatly increasing the number of lipid plaques in the blood vessels and igniting the fuse for crisis situations such as stroke and myocardial infarction!

Prolonged heavy drinking can significantly increase blood lipids and accelerate the generation of atherosclerosis.Alcohol is a substance that prioritizes the order of energy metabolism. It prioritizes energy supply, forcing the energy substances carbohydrates and fats ingested with the same meal to have to be packaged in the liver first in order to be transported via the blood via apolipoproteins to be stored throughout the body (elevated blood lipids). If the transport capacity of apolipoproteins is insufficient, a portion of the lipids will be temporarily retained in the liver, resulting in alcoholic fatty liver damage to liver function. Since the liver is able to produce vascular scavenger HDL (high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, which can bring the garbage in the blood vessels back to the liver for processing and elimination through bile), once the liver function is lowered, there is more garbage in the blood vessels, and the more likely it is to harden and form lipid plaques.

Atherosclerosis increases basal blood pressure.Hardening of the arteries means that their elasticity is reduced, and when the heart ejects blood into the arteries, the arteries are not able to expand efficiently to allow the blood to enter, the greater the pressure required, like blowing up a hardened balloon.

Under high pressure blood flow, the above lipid plaques can be dislodged at any time, blocking the blood vessels in important areas and causing critical situations!Therefore, drinking large amounts of alcohol over a long period of time is extremely dangerous and should be stopped immediately by people with high blood pressure!


The above content is edited and organized by "ask the doctor" for you, want to know more authoritative health knowledge, welcome to pay attention to us!

Drinking to lower blood pressure!

This is the reason so many of my friends drink every time.

It is true that a small amount of alcohol does cause a drop in blood pressure, but then it rises, and it definitely rises after a moderate amount of alcohol!

Let's look at the latest research

600,000 people were included in the study, in which it was demonstrated that heavy alcohol consumption inevitably contributes to an increased risk of cardiovascular events, including blood pressure risk.

But some people will say I have high blood pressure and drink a lot, which is not at all a problem!

Fluke! If it fills your heart for a long time, alcohol is like running a red light without getting into an accident. And how can you be sure that the antihypertensive drugs and alcohol will not have a new chemical reaction?

That's why Dr. Wang would like to advise everyone here that whether it's in terms of the relationship between drinking and high blood pressure, or in terms of the relationship between antihypertensive medications and alcohol consumption, people with high blood pressure must avoid drinking as much as possible! Don't drink if you can!

Wine should be consumed sparingly, and things should be known!

High blood pressure, high blood sugar, high blood fat is one of the most common diseases that threaten public health, commonly known as the "three highs". Also known as the "Dangerous Triangle". That is, once the "two highs" appear, then the remaining "one high" will appear sooner or later. Therefore, in daily life, a healthy lifestyle is actually aimed at preventing the "three highs"!

The reason why people with high blood pressure should not drink alcohol is also analyzed in terms of preventing the "three highs". The public has been popularized the scientific practice of "drinking is bad for health". The many health problems caused by drinking alcohol are not repeated here.

Let's talk about the relationship between hypertension and alcohol consumption separately. First of all, hypertension is categorized into primary hypertension and secondary hypertension. Primary hypertension is a syndrome characterized by elevated blood pressure as the main clinical manifestation, with or without multiple cardiovascular risk factors, and is often referred to simply as hypertension. Secondary hypertension, on the other hand, refers to elevated blood pressure caused by some identified disease or etiology and accounts for about 5% of all hypertension. Therefore, most of the hypertension we often refer to is primary hypertension. Hypertension is an important cause and risk factor for many cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. It affects the structure and function of vital organs such as the heart, brain, and kidneys, ultimately leading to the failure of these organs, and remains one of the leading causes of death from cardiovascular disease.

The current causes of hypertension are multifactorial. One of them is related to endocrine disorders (insulin resistance) caused by overweight obesity. However, drinking alcohol, whether a small amount or excessive, the intake of alcohol in the human body's liver oxidation metabolism, in the process of alcohol itself and its metabolic intermediates (acetaldehyde) will be on the liver and other organs and tissues of the body to cause damage to the endocrine disorders will ultimately lead to endocrine disorders, in addition to high blood pressure patients to take a variety of blood pressure lowering and lipid-lowering drugs are mostly metabolized by the liver and kidneys, so the act of drinking alcohol is undoubtedly a "worse" for patients with high blood pressure. Therefore, the behavior of drinking alcohol is undoubtedly to the hypertensive patient's organism "add more frost"!

As a doctor in the Department of Alcoholics Anonymous, most of the alcohol-dependent patients we come into contact with on a daily basis, in addition to alcoholism, already have the symptoms of the "three highs" in their bodies, coupled with the fact that alcohol-dependent patients do not have enough knowledge of the "three highs", and some even do not take them seriously, and they are often in very poor physical condition. The health condition is very bad. Therefore, for a healthy life, please stay away from alcohol. I'm Dr. Lee from the Alcoholics Anonymous Department. Follow me and I'll tell you all about alcohol.

Hypertensive patients are not absolutely not allowed to drink alcohol, but should limit alcohol and drink as little as possible, domestic and foreign guidelines for the prevention and treatment of hypertension are recommended that patients abstain from alcohol.

In general, a small amount of alcohol consumption by hypertensive patients is not a big problem. However, if they drink a lot of alcohol for a long time, it will increase the blood pressure at night, which will cause damage to the heart, brain, kidneys and other important target organs, and some patients suffer from hypertension because of alcoholism. In addition, long-term heavy drinking can also cause alcoholic intoxication, and even cause stroke. And alcohol calories are very high, easy to cause obesity, and obesity is also a risk factor for hypertension.

How do people with high blood pressure cope if it is a situation where they have to drink alcohol?

Men should not consume more than 25 g of alcohol per day, i.e., <100-50 ml of wine (equivalent to 2-3 taels), or <250-500 ml of beer (0.5-1 pound), or <25-50 ml of liquor (0.5-1 tael). For women, this should be halved. Under no circumstances should you drink highly potent alcohol.

Different alcoholic beverages have different effects on elevated blood pressure: wine has a lesser effect on systolic blood pressure, beer has a lesser effect on diastolic blood pressure, and white wine, especially strong white wine, has a greater effect on both systolic and diastolic blood pressure elevation.

Hypertensive patients must eliminate alcohol consumption within 3 hours before and after taking antihypertensive drugs. For example, vasodilators such as cardioplegia, lisinopril, captopril, etc., are prone to hypotensive shock when taken with alcohol; and antihypertensive medications such as compound antihypertensive tablets, eugenol, etc., when taken with alcohol, can cause a sudden rise in blood pressure, headache, vomiting, palpitations and other violent reactions, which can lead to cerebral hemorrhage in severe cases.

I hope this answer helps, remember to like it after reading it!

The main risk factors for the development of hypertension are found in our daily life, which commonly include excessive sodium intake, lack of exercise, obesity, mood swings and alcohol and smoking. Whether or not alcohol can be consumed in hypertension has always been a concern for patients.

It is now believed that elevated blood pressure is related to alcohol-induced sympathetic excitation and increased cardiac output, as well as indirectly causing the release of vasoconstrictors such as renin. In addition, long-term heavy drinking can also cause damage to cardiomyocytes, causing the heart to enlarge and develop into cardiomyopathy.

Alcohol contains more calories, will increase body weight, leading to overweight or even obesity, which is also a major risk factor for hypertension. Clinical evidence, alcohol will also significantly interfere with the efficacy of commonly used antihypertensive drugs, is not conducive to the play of its antihypertensive effect, but also increase the adverse effects.

About Drinking

For men, 25 grams of alcohol, for example, is equivalent to 25 to 50 ml of liquor (½ to 1 tael), 100 to 150 ml of wine (2 to 3 tael), and 250 to 500 ml of beer (½ to 1 pound). For women, it is halved.

In addition the eating habits of hypertensive patients are also a top priority

1- First of all, control energy intake. Promote the consumption of complex sugars, such as starch and corn, and less glucose and fructose.

2- Limit the intake of fat. Use vegetable oil for cooking, and eat more sea fish, which contains unsaturated fatty acids that can oxidize cholesterol, thus lowering plasma cholesterol.

3- Moderate intake of protein. The daily amount of protein in hypertensive patients is 1g per kilogram of body weight. If hypertension is combined with renal insufficiency, protein intake should be limited.

4- Eat foods rich in potassium and calcium and low in sodium, such as potatoes, eggplant, kelp, lettuce. Foods high in calcium: milk, sour milk, shrimp.

5- Limit salt intake: In general, salt intake should be limited to less than 6g, that is, the ordinary beer cap to remove the rubber cushion, a flat cap of salt is about 6g. appropriate reduction of sodium intake can help to lower blood pressure, reduce the body's sodium and water retention.

6- Eat more fresh vegetables and fruits. Eat no less than eight taels of fresh vegetables and two to four taels of fruits every day.

7-Increase seafood intake appropriately: e.g. kelp, nori, seafood fish, etc.

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