Alcohol and cardiovascular disease--more than one paradox to consider. Alcohol and hypertension--does it matter? (no!).

Good evidence suggests that alcohol probably has a causal relationship to hypertension, although many possible confounding factors that may exaggerate or attenuate the relationship, if true. Alcohol can also adversely affect other systems, including the heart (arrhythmias, alcoholic cardiomyopathy, etc.), the liver (alcoholic hepatitis, cirrhosis, etc.) and the nervous system (peripheral neuropathy, etc.). Hypertension is very common and it is unlikely that all (or most) of hypertensives can identify alcohol as causative. Indeed, hypertension is likely to be multifactorial and many factors would confound the relationship, if any, between alcohol and hypertension.