According to the World Health Organization, hypertension (high blood pressure) is too high a pressure in the blood vessels (140/90 mmHg or more). It is common but can be serious if left untreated. People with high blood pressure may not experience symptoms. The only way to know is to have their blood pressure checked.
In the meantime, rumors have spread that alcohol is a remedy for treating high blood pressure. However, after several checks made by Centrafrique Check with health specialists and advanced searches on the Google search engine, excessive alcohol consumption rather increases high blood pressure in hypertensive patients.
Details from health specialists
For Doctor John Onambele, cardiologist and head of intensive care at the Bangui Community Hospital, this information is false: “This information is completely false, because beer has many side effects, even if it often gives an intuition of well-being to those who consume it. Beer can cause excessive weight gain and excessive beer consumption is dangerous for health and also promotes an increase in blood pressure. So the information that drinking beer to lower high blood pressure is totally false.”
Doctor Kosh Komba Jess-Elio, general practitioner at the pediatric complex in Bangui, interviewed by Centrafrique Check, denies this rumor: “I would be surprised, on the contrary, it is beer that increases blood pressure. Indeed, there are alcohols that we cannot tolerate since it can harm and alter the walls of the vessels, so beer is a source of increased blood pressure.”
Timothée Gbakosse, a hypertensive in the Benz-Vi neighborhood in the 5th district of Bangui, interviewed, also rejects this rumor: “My wife and I are hypertensive but in no case has a doctor advised us to drink beer for our treatments. Moreover, the abuse of alcohol itself is already a health hazard. So saying that drinking beer can treat high blood pressure is wrong”
He continues: “Quite the contrary, doctors have advised us that if we really want our blood pressure to go down we should avoid drinking beer”.
Further, we also carried out advanced research on high blood pressure through the Google search engine. According to a fact sheet in the practitioner’s journal, moderate alcohol consumption (maximum 1 to 2 glasses per day) can lower blood pressure, especially in older people (men over 40 and women over 45 to 50). However, drinking more has the effect of increasing blood pressure.
If you have high blood pressure, you can usually lower it by reducing your alcohol consumption. Patients with high blood pressure who reduce their alcohol consumption see their blood pressure decrease. More information available here.
According to the information site La revue du médecin, “alcohol-related high blood pressure is the basis of the causal link between alcohol consumption and the increased risk of several cardiovascular diseases. Blood pressure is measured using two values. For example, we obtain 12/8 or 120/80. The first of these numbers indicates the pressure exerted on the arteries with each heartbeat (systolic pressure) and the second number indicates the pressure between two heartbeats (diastolic pressure)”.
Prevention method:
Noting that the most effective prevention of alcohol-induced hypertension is obviously reducing alcohol consumption. Physical activity is also an important prevention and treatment strategy. There is no specific clinical data on the effectiveness of specific medication in the treatment of alcohol-related hypertension according to the information sheet of the revue du médecin.
It should be noted that when we talk about high blood pressure it is when the blood pressure in the arteries is too high. It is caused by excessive consumption of salt or saturated fats and trans fatty acids, and the influential consumption of fruits and vegetables or even the consumption of tobacco, alcohol, and overweight or obesity.
In conclusion, excessive alcohol consumption increases high blood pressure after verification by Centrafrique Check.
By Doriane Chancella Pounoukoudou/Centrafrique Check
