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Forget Dry January – drinking alcohol in moderation may be linked to a longer lifespan

Forget Dry January – drinking alcohol in moderation may be linked to a longer lifespan

Source: https://www.insider.com/

Mia de Graaf

January 16, 2020

Harvard researchers studied 30 years of data on 120,000 men and women aged 30-55 to assess how lifestyle factors affect life expectancy.

They found people who have a few alcoholic drinks a week live more years free of diabetes and heart disease than those who don’t drink or drink too much.

Previous studies have found that a month of sobriety may cause more short-term anxiety than long-term health benefits.

Experts warn restrictive diets, including Dry January, can also leave people with unhealthy and anxious attitudes towards food and drink.

After the excesses of the holiday period, Dry January seems like a wise idea, giving our livers, skin, and bank accounts a rest by avoiding alcohol for the first month of the year.

The trend, which started as a one-off marketing stunt in the UK a decade ago, is now an annual global phenomenon. One in 5 Americans try to commit to sobriety in January, according to a recent YouGov poll.

New research, however, suggests the benefits of cutting out alcohol may be exaggerated, and, as long as you maintain a healthy diet, the occasional drink may actually be good for you.

Researchers at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health studied 30 years of data on nearly 80,000 women and 40,000 men to understand how their lifestyle habits affected their lifespan. Aside from eating a balanced diet and avoiding cigarettes, they found that the healthiest people with the longest life expectancies also drank a few units of alcohol a week.

Women who reported drinking up to 15g of alcohol a day (roughly one drink), and men who had up to 30g a day were less likely to prematurely develop diabetes and heart disease than those who had avoided alcohol altogether or drank in excess, the study found. This was the case particularly if they also exercised regularly, didn’t smoke, and ate plenty of vegetables.

Speaking to Insider, doctors said the study adds weight to the shift away from restrictive diets – whether it’s cutting carbs or quitting alcohol – which rarely deliver all the benefits we hope for, and can leave people with unhealthy and anxious attitudes towards food and drink.

A few drinks a week appear to lower the risk of heart disease and boost life expectancy, but heavy drinking has the opposite effect

Researchers are incredibly conflicted on alcohol, particularly when it comes to overall health and life expectancy.

In 2018, a Cambridge University study found even one drink a week was enough to reduce a person’s lifespan by increasing their risk of cancer or liver disease.

However, the picture is blurred by a steady stream of studies finding that the occasional drink can be beneficial, especially for the heart.

“The cardiovascular benefits of moderate alcohol consumption have been consistently observed in large cohort studies,” Dr. Frank Hu, chair of Harvard’s Department of Nutrition and author of the new study, said.

In 2011, Canadian and US researchers analyzed 84 major studies on alcohol, and found that light drinking was overwhelmingly associated with good heart health. What’s more, according to a years-long study on the so-called ‘Blue Zones’ – 5 societies with the longest life expectancies in the world – most of them regularly drink wine.

For the new study, published last week in the British Medical Journal, Hu wanted to see how some common lifestyle factors affect our risks of developing heart disease, diabetes, and cancer earlier in life.

His team looked at two large data sets – the Nurses’ Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study – which tracked the health of 73,196 women for 34 years and 38,366 men for 28 years.

They found that women who, at age 50, ate a healthy diet, exercised 30 minutes a day, had a healthy body weight, and drank alcohol in moderation lived to an average of 84.4 years old without developing diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, or cancer. Women who did not practice those healthy habits were more likely to develop those diseases in their 70s.

Middle-aged men practicing those healthy habits lived to an average of 81.1 years old free of chronic disease, compared to 73.5 years old for men who did not.

Studies suggest wine contains powerful antioxidants that boost ‘good’ cholesterol

It’s unclear exactly why alcohol, and red wine above all, appears to be so protective, but the research is “robust,” according to Hu’s co-author Dr. Qi Sun, an associate professor of nutrition at Harvard.

“There is a really robust link with [alcohol and] high levels of HDL, the ‘good’ cholesterol,” Sun told Insider. “We also see moderate drinking associated with lower rates of chronic inflammation.”

Some research has found that red wine, for example, contains powerful antioxidants. Other research suggests red wine drinkers are simply wealthier, and therefore more likely to eat well and have time to exercise.

Sun told Insider he “can’t exclude the possibility” that other factors influenced these drinkers’ resilience, but the connection is so strong it probably has more to do with the alcohol itself.

Alcohol does have plenty of downsides, so don’t go overboard

Despite the apparent benefits, Sun says non-drinkers should not take up liquor hoping for a boost. Alcohol consumption has been shown to increase the risk of cancer – more substantially for women than men. Last week, new US data showed a rise in binge-drinking and alcohol-related deaths among middle-aged women.

The key is to find balance, he said.

“It’s the all-round package that gives you the most benefits,” Sun said.

“People shouldn’t cherry-pick any individual component or another. If you drink alcohol, it’s very important that you drink responsibly, not in excess, and that you also focus on eating a healthy diet, maintaining a healthy body weight, not smoking, and exercising. If you don’t drink you don’t need to start drinking.”

Suddenly going sober after months of heavy drinking could be a shock to the system, and may affect sleep and anxiety levels

Some experts take issue with the strict format of Dry January, warning that, for people who drink regularly, a sudden stop could be jolting.

People who drink plenty and often typically have worse sleep quality, because alcohol tampers with our brain’s system of releasing ‘sleepy’ chemicals. But, in the short term, heavy drinkers may experience withdrawal symptoms, such as insomnia and stress.

“The first couple nights when you stop drinking, you may have difficulty sleeping,” Dr. Elspeth Cameron Ritchie, director of psychiatry at MedStar Washington Hospital Center, told WTOP. “That’s a common problem that people have when they stop drinking, they get insomnia.”

Dr. Maria Yuabova, a registered nurse practitioner and assistant professor at the City University of New York, suggests taking a less severe approach, or easing into it.

“Don’t abstain completely, and focus on replenishing your nutrients after drinking,” Yuabova told Insider.

“People who drink heavily lose lots of nutrients in their brain, and they need to detoxify. Focus on why you are doing it, and do it smart.”

Focus on being mindful instead of going cold turkey or overdoing it

Restrictive diets of any kind tend to backfire, health experts warn.

“When restricting any food or beverage within the diet it has the potential to create food fear and unhealthy habits,” registered dietitian Taylor Sutton, founder of Taylor Your Table, told Insider.

“Depending on current alcohol intake, everyone reacts differently when cutting it out or adjusting down. Some may notice mental shifts, change in hunger and thirst cues, and weight fluctuations.”

Sutton advises clients that they’re more likely to stick with a plan and avoid accidental binge-drinking if they aren’t overwhelmed by restrictions.

“I do not advise clients to cut out any food or beverage group unless they are intolerant or allergic. Rather, find a sustainable lifestyle choice that they enjoy and is maintainable.”

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