“Being overweight, especially around the belly, is one of the strongest risk factors for high blood pressure,” says Raghuveer Vedala, MD, a family and obesity medicine specialist with Norman Regional Hospital System in Oklahoma City and member of the Obesity Medicine Association.
Alcohol makes this interaction even worse. If you are overweight or have obesity, for example, even light alcohol use can significantly boost your risk of hypertension: The combined risk is greater than simply adding the individual risks of excess weight and drinking together.
Though you may have once heard that a little red wine protects your heart health, experts today are increasingly agreeing that alcohol use has no benefits, only downsides. Drinking, especially to excess, makes conditions like obesity and high blood pressure worse.
Alcohol and Obesity
Alcohol exacerbates obesity by adding empty calories that promote fat storage, increasing hunger and cravings, and disrupting sleep quality.
Alcohol is toxic to the liver, which plays a critical role in metabolic health. Even low and moderate alcohol intake is associated with sharply increased risks of the liver diseases MASLD and MASH. These conditions are defined by a dangerous accumulation of fat in the liver. They are common in people with obesity.
When people with MASLD drink moderately, their risk of advanced liver disease can be as high as the risk experienced by people with alcohol use disorder.
And for many people, alcohol promotes weight gain simply because it’s a high-calorie beverage.
“Alcohol has the highest number of calories per gram after fats,” Dr. Vedala says. There are 7 calories per gram of alcohol and 9 calories per gram of fat. But, unlike fats, alcohol doesn’t provide much nutrition, and it doesn’t trigger the same satiety signals as nutrient-dense foods.
Research shows that heavy alcohol consumption — defined as eight or more drinks for women per week and 15 or more drinks for men per week — is consistently related to weight gain.
Moreover, alcohol can lower inhibitions, making impulsive eating more likely. “Over time, this can lead to weight gain, especially in the waist area,” Vedala says. This fat, which surrounds organs like the heart and liver, has an outsized effect on cardiovascular health.
Alcohol and High Blood Pressure
Drinking alcoholic beverages — even if it’s just one drink a day — can raise blood pressure levels.
When you drink alcohol, the sympathetic nervous system, which triggers your “fight-or-flight” response to stress, ramps up. This prompts the kidneys to tighten control of blood pressure signaling and causes inflammation that interferes with how the blood vessels naturally relax, says Dr. Garcia-Webb. Your blood pressure spikes as a result.
This blood pressure increase can be both immediate and chronic. Even moderate drinking — two drinks or fewer per day for men, and one drink or fewer per day for women — can raise blood pressure if done daily, Vedala says.
Whether you’re a heavy or light drinker, the more you drink, the higher your blood pressure will tend to increase.
“While one drink might cause a short-term spike, regular use activates stress hormones and leads to sustained increases in blood pressure,” Vedala says.
Read the full article here
