Abstinence at a distance

The Herald has a headline “Dry January may not have been as good for your health as you thought“, and lead

For many people, the beginning of February marks the end of a month of abstinence from their favourite tipple.

But as we bid a perhaps too enthusiastic farewell to Dry January, one expert is saying that last month’s good intentions may have done more harm than good.

Now, ‘Dry January’ almost certainly has done no real harm or good to readers of the Herald, since it’s a UK thing, and it would be quite hard for British alcohol consumption to have much impact on NZ health.  The story, amazingly, hasn’t even been edited to mention the NZ analog, FebFast, which has just started on Saturday.

With that out of the way, the point of the story is that moderate levels of alcohol consumption are probably beneficial to health, and so giving up alcohol for a month does more harm than good. While it’s nice to see the J-curve acknowledged in the media, it’s unlikely to apply here. If you have any real reason to join the ‘Dry January’ campaign, you’re probably drinking enough to be on the unhealthy side of the curve (like many people in NZ), and the health risks go up fairly fast with increased consumption.  If giving up alcohol for a month does you any good, except in the wallet, it’s likely to do quite a bit more good than harm. It’s true that drinking moderately without a month off would be even better, but that’s not the intervention at issue.

It’s also worth noting that the benefits claimed for beer in the story include its silicon content. That’s a fairly reliable sign of desperation in nutrition claims; it’s not clear that anyone has ever been short of silicon.