After many years of clinical trials we now know that excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages puts one at risk of increased blood pressure, and that people who are already hypertensive are especially vulnerable.
More significantly, for certain people alcohol elevates blood pressure on its own, independent of other causes (such as extra weight or poor diet). If you are sensitive in this way, all you need do is down three or four drinks and presto, your systolic blood pressure shoots up 4 or 5 points, your diastolic 2 or 3. It's been estimated that up to 5 percent of people with hypertension suffer from high blood pressure strictly because if their drinking habits. The ailment is known as alcoholic hypertension.
Although only a small percentage of hypertensives suffer from alcoholic hypertension, there are secondary problems related to drinking that make it a danger to anyone with volatile blood pressure. Alcohol is high in empty calories, for instance, and for many drinkers these calories are quickly transformed into added weight. Extra poundage, we know, increases blood pressure.
Alcohol use often goes hand in hand with snacking--especially consuming salty snacks like peanuts, pretzels, and popcorn. If you're salt-sensitive, a bout of heavy drinking mixed with high salt intake can be disastrous to blood pressure readings.
Note too that commercial alcoholic drinks are filled with salty additives. One can of beer contains preservatives, fermenting agents, artificial colorings, foam inhibitors, and more, many of which are laden with salt.
Alcohol, we also know, stimulates the hormone cortisol. Increased amounts of this chemical trigger salt retention and potassium loss in the body. Both are serious reactions for anyone suffering with high blood pressure.
If you suffer from high blood pressure, in other words, you are cautioned not to push the drinking envelope too far, and to keep your alcohol intake modest. This means no more than one or two drinks a day. For people with serious hypertension, complete abstention is best.
Heart failure is still the deadliest killer...but it doesn't have to take you!
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