Alcohol Reduces Hypertension

A few drinks a week appear to reduce a woman's chance of developing high blood pressure or hypertension.

Researchers studied alcohol consumption and subsequent high blood pressure for eight years among over 7,000 women, aged 20 to 40, in the Nurses' Health Study.

Women who reported consuming an average of aboout about half a drink a day had a 15% lower chance of developing high blood pressure than did women who abstained from alcohol.

Reducing the risk of high blood pressure by 15% is very important, because it's one of the few risk factors over which a person has control.

However, consuming over an average of 1.5 drinks per day increased the risk of developing hypertension.

The study was published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.