A ‘dry’ January is good for you!

Have you taken up the ‘dry’ January challenge yet? That is, have you committed yourself to refraining from alcoholic drinks for the duration of January? If you drink regularly this might prove more difficult than it first seems. A glass of wine with which to relax after a day’s work can be a routine very hard to shake off. However, maybe that stinking hangover you had on New Year’s Day convinced you to quit, at least for now?

It's not just your wallet which will feel the benefit, it’s your health too. Alcohol is an addictive drug and when taken in excess or consistently can be particularly harmful for your health – especially for women. Recently the US Surgeon general, Vivek Murthy, said that packaging of alcoholic drinks should carry health warnings because alcohol is the leading cause of cancer after smoking and obesity. He cites research that shows women who drink alcohol regularly have a 30% increased risk of breast, mouth and throat cancers and liver disease compared with those women who abstain altogether from alcohol.

However, his comments seemed to be at odds with other recent research published in The European Heart Journal by academics at the University of Barcelona (European Heart Journal, Volume 46, Issue 2, 7 January 2025, Pages 161–172), who actually extoll the benefits of regular, moderate consumption of wine in reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Rather than rely on self-reporting, which can be erroneous, the 1,232 Spanish men and women observed over a period of five years, had their urine analysed for the presence of tartaric acid, a specific biomarker for the amount of wine consumed. These latter findings are in accordance with long held research results, originally carried out many years ago, and since, which describe the benefits of consuming one to two glasses of wine per day accompanied by a ‘healthy’ Mediterranean diet in the prevention of CVD – the so-called French paradox.

Before we get too excited in the hope that our own guilty conscience might be assuaged by knowing that a drop of wine, particularly red wine, actually does us good, there are caveats and reservations. For a start the daily measures of wine consumed in the Spanish study were only 100ml compared with the 175ml glass of wine which we normally pour for ourselves. Second, all the participants in the study had a diet high in fruit, vegetables, nuts and olive oil and low in processed and sugary foods. Third, and perhaps most important of all, these benefits were only found with respect to the reduction of CVD and with respect to wine consumption. There are other potential adverse effects alcohol from other sources can impart on our bodies, which have equally been proven.

For instance, a meta survey published in 2018 in the medical journal, The Lancet, suggested that there is no ‘safe’ level of alcohol consumption. They found that although moderate drinking may protect against heart disease, the risk of cancer and other diseases far outweighs these benefits. The same journal last year reported that women who drink more than one glass of wine a day are 9% more likely to get breast cancer than those who abstain from alcohol altogether. This risk rises to 60% for those women regularly exceeding the daily recommended limits. Similarly, alcohol, as classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, is regarded as a toxic, psychoactive, and dependence-producing substance and a Group 1 carcinogen that is causally linked to seven types of cancer, including oesophagus, liver, colorectal, and breast cancers.

Despite these announcements there are still recommended limits for alcohol consumption. For instance, in the UK’s chief medical officer’s guidelines, men and women should limit themselves to 14 or fewer units of alcohol per week, about one and a half bottles of wine. But this should be spread over a period of days and not consumed in one go! This is because so-called ‘binge’ drinking, that is drinking the equivalent to 8 units of alcohol in one session, is particularly harmful for physical health as well as mental health.

Alcohol slows down how nerves in the brain communicate with each other. The section of the brain called the hippocampus is responsible for forming short and long term memories and persistent excessive consumption of alcohol can damage it permanently, mimicking the symptoms of dementia! Forgetting about what happened the night before after a drinking session might be a one off, but excessive drinking over a long period of time can cause amnesia, even when you are sober.

There are other less quantifiable psychological downsides. There is a feeling of euphoria associated with the initial few drinks. Subsequently anxiety and depression can kick in, especially the morning after the night before when we experience withdrawal symptoms.

All this sounds very depressing. Drinking alcohol in the company of friends or relatives is a pleasurable social activity which none of us would like to give up. And to enjoy a glass of wine at the end of the day, perhaps with a nice meal Is a treat. So, is there a compromise to be made before an alcoholic drink becomes a ritual or a habit?

Maybe intermittent abstention from alcohol is the answer, and sticking to those 14 units spread over some days? You could even deceive yourself about your intake by using smaller wine glasses - you will get over seven measures from a bottle of wine, instead of the usual four. Or perhaps go for alcohol free drinks, which despite having a poor reputation with respect to taste, do actually mimic the real thing very well. Whatever route you take to reduce your alcohol intake, it will only do you good.

If you can make it to the end of this January without touching a drop (postpone birthday celebrations if you are an Aquarian!), then you should see improvements in your sleep patterns, your memory and be sharper in your mind and you may even feel more healthy! Cheers to that!