Dry January is BAD for you – Month of no drinking could actually HARM your health

DRY January drinkers could be damaging their health MORE than if they drunk alcohol in moderation, health experts have warned.

A leading university lecturer has suggested Dry January could do more harm than good

 

More than 2million people are thought to be ditching the booze in a bid to start their 2016 on a health kick.

But despite the well meaning thinking behind Dry January, urging people to take part sends an "all or nothing" message and could do more harm than good, an expert has argued.

While the campaign says there are "significant health benefits" from taking part, from "weight loss and better sleep ... to more money in your pocket" a lecturer has argued it’s popularity outweighs its effectiveness.

Ian Hamilton, a lecturer in the Department of Health Sciences at York University, said people may view their 31 days of being teetotal as permission to resume service as normal, and go out binge drinking on their first day back on the booze.

 

Mr Hamilton said people may view their 31 days of being teetotal as signal to get back on the booze

 

Writing in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), he said: "Dry January risks sending out a binary, all or nothing, message about alcohol - that is, either participate by abstaining or carry on as you are.

"Alcohol Concern's ambition is to alter people's relationship with alcohol by encouraging us to reduce the amount we drink, not just for a month but for life.

"Unfortunately, this type of campaign has had no rigorous evaluation."

He argued people aren’t always honest about what they drink and going teetotal for 31 days was actually “relatively easy”.

Among heavy drinkers, "abrupt abstention from alcohol" could also induce serious symptoms, such as seizures, he added.

 

He argued people aren’t always honest about what they drink

 

But Professor Sir Ian Gilmore, an honorary consultant physician at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital, who is on the board of trustees at Alcohol Concern, said: "Our per capita consumption has doubled over 40 years, we have 1.5million heavily dependent drinkers in this country, and alcohol has become a central part of most social occasions.

"So what could possibly be wrong with encouraging and supporting the estimated two million or so adults who decide on Dry January to take a month off the booze and have time to reflect on their drinking?"

He said the campaign had been shown to have effects past the month of January.

Evaluation of the 2015 campaign by Public Health England showed that 67 per cent of participants said they had had a sustained drop in their drinking six months on.

  

This contentious debate comes just after new drinking guidelines were announced

 

Some eight per cent also "stayed dry".

Sir Ian added: "In an earlier evaluation by the University of Sussex, 79 per cent of participants said they saved money, 62 per cent of participants said they slept better and had more energy, and 49 per cent said they lost weight."

This contentious debate comes just a a week after the UK’s Chief Medical Officer said NO level of regular drinking is without risk to our health and a reduction in men’s drinking limits.

Jackie Ballard, chief executive of Alcohol Concern, added alcohol is linked to more than 60 medical conditions and recent research showed that having just one month off has "a positive impact on blood pressure, cholesterol and liver".