The alcohol consumption index (ACI), defined as the product of GGT, HDL, and MCV, is associated with blood pressure and incident hypertension and may be a useful biomarker for prevention of alcohol-induced hypertension.
Regular alcohol drinkers had significantly higher odds of incident hypertension compared to nondrinkers.
Heavy drinkers had significantly higher odds of incident hypertension compared to nondrinkers.
The highest tertile of ACI was associated with significantly elevated odds of incident hypertension compared to the lowest tertile.
Individuals who reduced alcohol consumption from regular or heavy drinking to nondrinking over the 5-year follow-up showed significant reductions in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure.
Individuals who moved from the highest ACI tertile to the lowest ACI tertile over the 5-year follow-up showed significant reductions in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure.
The ACI is defined as the product of mean corpuscular volume (MCV), gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT), and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels in blood.
This research suggests that a blood-based index called the Alcohol Consumption Index (ACI) — calculated by multiplying three routine blood test values (a red blood cell size measurement called MCV, a liver enzyme called GGT, and HDL or 'good' cholesterol) — can predict who is at risk of developing high blood pressure due to alcohol use. The study followed over 6,600 working men for five years and found that people with high ACI scores were about 81% more likely to develop hypertension than those with low scores, which was comparable to the increased risk seen in heavy or regular drinkers. Importantly, this association held up even after accounting for participants' starting blood pressure levels. The study also found that people who reduced their alcohol intake — whether measured directly by self-reported drinking habits or indirectly by a drop in their ACI score — showed meaningful decreases in both their systolic and diastolic blood pressure over the five-year period. This suggests that ACI tracks real changes in alcohol-related health risk over time, not just a static snapshot. This research suggests that ACI could be a practical tool for identifying individuals at elevated risk of alcohol-related hypertension using standard blood tests that are already commonly performed in clinical and occupational health settings. Since people do not always accurately report their alcohol intake, an objective blood-based marker like ACI may offer a way to better identify those who could benefit from interventions aimed at reducing alcohol consumption and, in turn, lowering blood pressure.
Wakabayashi I. (2026). Alcohol Consumption Index as a Novel Risk Marker for Hypertension.. Neuropsychopharmacology reports. https://doi.org/10.1002/npr2.70166