While many customers associate alcohol with liver disease, fewer realise that regular drinking – often perceived as harmless – can quietly increase blood pressure and raise the risk of diabetes. Understanding these links can help advisers better support customers and manage risk.
In the years since the Covid-19 pandemic, alcoholrelated deaths in the UK have continued to climb, highlighting not only the familiar spectre of liver disease but also a set of less obvious health risks.
Whilst headlines often focus on the dangers of binge drinking and cirrhosis of the liver, there is growing recognition that everyday drinking habits – often seen as moderate or social – are driving an increase in conditions like high blood pressure and diabetes.
For advisers who help customers protect themselves and their families through insurance products, understanding these hidden impacts is increasingly important.
“ The common perception is that alcohol risk is mostly about heavy drinking and liver problems, but in truth that tends to affect a very small proportion of people,” says Nicky Bray, Chief Underwriter at Zurich.
“ Even moderate alcohol consumption can result in things like high blood pressure, heart rhythm or pulse rate abnormalities such as atrial fibrillation, and also diabetes.” These are often areas that customers may not disclose, downplay or may not realise are an issue.
When applying for cover, customers are asked whether they have high blood pressure or have seen a doctor, nurse or other health professional about it in the past five years. They are also asked if they currently have or have ever had diabetes, raised blood sugar or sugar in the urine. While applicants might genuinely be unaware of some medical details, most people have a clear sense of how much they drink, so any inaccuracies in this area are more likely to result from underestimating, or, to use insurance industry terms, non-disclosure.
It is therefore essential that advisers emphasise the importance of answering questions about alcohol consumption honestly, to provide an accurate
August 2025 | 27