Occasional drinking ‘not healthy after all’

Light or moderate alcohol consumption does not benefit health, contrary to popular belief, a new study claims.

A number of studies published in the 1970s and 1980s indicated that small to moderate consumption of alcohol may have a protective affect against ischaemic heart disease (IHD) that outweighs any adverse health effects.

However, scientists at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, have suggested that previous studies into the effects of alcohol on health were non-randomised and any positive association could easily be due to other factors that were not considered.

Rod Jackson and colleagues at the university’s faculty of medical and health sciences point to a study earlier this year of 200,000 US adults, which indicated that 27 of 30 cardiovascular risk factors were significantly more prevalent in non-drinkers than in light to moderate drinkers.

The research suggests that there is more compelling evidence for the coronary benefits of moderate to heavy drinking than for light to moderate drinking, but the health problems associated with moderate to heavy drinking outweigh any positive effect.

Some studies have found that the coronary arteries of heavy drinkers and alcoholic are actually relatively “clean”, consistent with a coronary-protective effect.

In a report in medical journal The Lancet, the authors concluded: “Any coronary protection from light to moderate drinking will be very small and unlikely to outweigh the harms.

“While moderate to heavy drinking is probably coronary-protective, any benefit will be overwhelmed by the known harms. If so, the public-health message is clear. Do not assume there is a window in which the health benefits of alcohol are greater than the harms – there is probably no free lunch.”

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