Remedy for an overindulgent festive season?
Listen up all you Christmas revellers. I’ve found a scientific study reported in the British Medical Journal earlier this year that may interest you.
First, let me clarify one thing: no way am I condoning Christmas overindulgence, but as over a quarter of adults in the UK exceed the guidelines for alcohol consumption even without the enticements of Christmas, it is a fair bet that at least some of my readers or their family members will fall prey to alcohol excess over the festive season. If that’s the case then, according to the results of this study, a short period of abstinence really can have a dramatic effect on your health.
In the study I refer to, all 141 participants were moderate-to-heavy drinkers, consuming on average around 30 units of alcohol per week – equivalent to three bottles of wine or about 14 pints of beer.
Ninety-four participants completely abstained from alcohol for a month (with no change to eating, smoking and exercising habits); the remaining 47 continued to imbibe as usual.
Researchers measured levels of blood markers for alcohol-induced diseases like liver cirrhosis, heart disease, type 2 diabetes and cancer before and after the month’s study and compared them within and between the abstinence and control groups.
While disease markers in the control group remained unchanged after the month’s study, those for the abstinence group showed dramatic improvements.
There were highly significant reductions in levels of blood markers for diabetes, liver disease and cancer as well as a fall in weight and in blood pressure.
This study proves that for moderate to heavy drinkers even short-term abstinence from alcohol can dramatically improve blood levels indicative of risk for alcohol-related diseases.
So how about trying a dry January in 2019?
Whether or nay, have a merry Christmas and a happy new year!