Alcohol and heart disease


It’s the most important pump in the world.


When your heart, the arteries around your heart or your other blood vessels are damaged, this pumping system doesn’t work properly. Such problems are collectively known as cardiovascular disease and lead to the death of 191,000 people a year, making this the UK’s biggest killer (1).

Long-term excessive drinking increases your risk of developing problems with your heart. Drinking within the government's lower risk guidelines is unlikely to cause damage and, if you’re over 45, may help protect the heart. It’s important to remember that you don’t need to drink much above the lower risk guidelines to undo any protective effect and start causing harm even if you are in this group.


What is heart disease?


What is a heart attack?

Heart attacks are the most common result of coronary heart disease. Someone has a heart attack when their coronary arteries become blocked. This stops blood supply to the heart’s muscles meaning it can’t get the oxygen it needs. Starved of oxygen, the heart can’t pump properly, and in severe cases it may effectively stop beating altogether which can kill you. Damage to the heart muscle can lead to heart failure – when your heart can no longer pump blood around your body normally. This leads to symptoms such as swelling of the ankles and shortness of breath which affect you for the rest of your life and often become progressively worse. Although there are drugs that can help limit the impact of heart failure, there isn't a cure at the moment (2).

Long-term, heavy drinking can lead to heart disease

Drinking more than the lower risk guidelines regularly and over a long period of time can increase your risk of developing heart disease. This is because, drinking at this level can:

  • Heavy drinking weakens the heart muscle, which means the heart can’t pump blood as efficiently. It’s known as cardiomyopathy and can cause premature death, usually through heart failure (4). The heart may be enlarged (5)

Binge drinking can make your heart beat irregularly

The name Holiday Heart Syndrome was coined in 1978 (6) but it is misleading. People who have it certainly won’t be having a leisurely time. In fact they might feel like they are having a heart attack – characterised by severe pain in the centre of the chest. It gets its name because cases of the condition tend to increase around holiday times or after weekends, when people tend to drink more (7). 



Research suggests that small amounts of alcohol can have a protective effect on your heart (8) (9). This benefit appears to be restricted to over 45-year-olds drinking well within the lower risk guidelines.



Can alcohol ever be good for the heart?


Laboratory studies in animals suggest that antioxidants help to prevent thrombosis (10). Red wine has a high concentration of antioxidant substances called flavonoids. White alcoholic drinks, like vodka and cider, contain the least concentration of flavonoids. But other alcohols, such as beer, have nearly the same antioxidant effect as wine.



Simply put, it’s just not worth it. With alcohol and the heart, it’s a benefit and risk trade off. So, for example, alcohol’s anti-clotting ability, potentially protective against heart attack, may increase the risk of haemorrhagic stroke (when a blood vessel bursts inside the brain), or bleeding within the brain. Beyond the daily unit guidelines, alcohol’s potential benefits on the heart are outweighed by its increased risks of developing other illnesses, such as liver disease or cancer.


  • taking exercise
  • eating a healthy diet


  • Coronary heart disease causes around 80,000 deaths in the UK each year (11).
  • Drinking more than the lower risk guidelines can cause abnormal heart rhythms, high blood pressure, damage to the heart muscle and other diseases such as stroke, liver problems and some cancers (12)

Staying in control




The Blood Pressure Association offers a range of information to help you take control of, or prevent, high blood pressure. Call their information line on 0845 241 0989 or visit

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Page updated: November 2014