Five hours of exercise a week can undo harm of drinking

REGULAR exercise offsets the harm caused by alcohol, including cancer and heart disease, research shows.

A study has found that adults who drink regularly but do five hours physical activity a week are no more likely to die than teetotallers.

Experts say exercise counteracts many of the harmful processes which occur in the body after drinking alcohol.

These include inflammation of the cells and a rise in certain hormone levels, which trigger cancer and other illnesses

Today’s findings, by University College London and University of Sydney researchers, are further evidence of the enormous health benefits of being active.

The research, which is published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, examined data from 36,370 adults in England and Scotland. Around 85 per cent drank occasionally or often, and this included 13 per cent who

‘Rigorous piece of research’

exceeded the recommended safe limit of 14 units a week.

But those who did at least two and a half hour’s moderate exercise a week drastically reduced the harms of drinking.

And adults who managed five hours exercise a week – as well as exceeding the safe drinking levels – were no more likely to die than teetotallers.

The study concluded: ‘Meeting the current physical activity public health recommendations (two and a half hours) offsets some of the cancer and all-cause mortality risk associated with alcohol drinking.

‘Our results provide an additional argument for the role of physical activity as a means to promote the health of the population even in the presence of other less healthy behaviours.

Professor Matt Field, from the UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies at the University of Liverpool said: ‘This is a rigorous piece of research with some clear conclusions.’