The clinical relevance of alcohol in the Blood Pressure Clinic

There is a limited number of studies conducted in hypertensive patients which support the hypothesis that high alcohol intake is an important reversible cause of raised blood pressure. The validity and effectiveness of alcohol restriction as a treatment of hypertension is difficult to study as there is no suitable placebo substance that can be employed on a clinical trial basis. However, such clinical data that there are, taken with the confirmatory epidemiological work, strongly suggest that hypertensive patients should be questioned and investigated for evidence of high alcohol intake and advised accordingly.