Can alcohol cause a stroke?

Heavy alcoholic drinking can raise your risk of stroke by contributing to the following:
• Being overweight: Being overweight already is unhealthy for your body, but combined with alcohol that is very high in calories, regular drinking can make it more difficult to lose weight and maintain a healthier life style. Being overweight greatly increases your chance of a stroke.

• Diabetes: Having diabetes, whether type 1 or type 2, doubles your risk of stroke. With diabetes, drinking alcohol changes the way your body responds to insulin. Type 2 diabetes is caused by being overweight which can occur with constant heavy drinking.

• High blood pressure: High blood pressure contributes to 50% of strokes. When drinking a lot of alcohol, it raises the fat content in your blood which causes excess pressure in the brain from high blood pressure, leading to stroke.