This one habit could minimise the dangerous effects of alcohol over a lifetime and reduce the risk of cancer beyond Dry January
A doctor has revealed an unexpected drinking rule that could protect against cancer. He made the revelation as he warned against the Dry January “crash diet.”
Dr Alasdair Scott offered up his “20 minute rule” as an antidote to what he called the “largely ineffective” Dry January challenge. He said the latter has very few health benefits unless alcohol is significantly cut down in the long term.
But his one simple method can trick you into cutting down your alcohol intake overtime, thus reducing your risk of a number of cancers and health issues. Dr Scott said that “taking a 20-minute break after finishing one drink, before pouring your next, can make a big difference to the amount of alcohol you drink.
“Having this time to pause in-between drinks will allow you to process whether you are in fact craving more, or if you actually feel tired and as though you’ve had enough. It also just slows down your drinking generally, so over the course of a night, you will automatically drink less this way.”
Dr Scott added: “Cumulative exposure leads to a continuum of risk. There is no such thing as a ‘safe level of alcohol’ – only gradually increasing risk of health problems, from negligible, to low, to high.”
He said that it is the “cumulative exposure” that is the key risk factor when we are thinking about our alcohol intake. He added: “Alcohol has negative effects on many organs and tissues throughout your body, such as your bowel and brain, not just your liver.
“For example, alcohol increases the risk of bowel cancer, breast cancer and dementia. The negative effects of alcohol are from cumulative exposure – so the more alcohol you drink over a longer time period, the more likely you are to experience related health problems.”
Adding that the challenge is much like “a crash diet”, he said there is “very little benefit if you then continue to drink heavily once January is over.”
According to Dr Scott, someone who drinks at the upper limit of UK guidelines (14 units or 7 drinks a week) will drink 728 units a year. If they stop drinking entirely in January, but resume average drinking behaviour afterwards, they’ll be down to 672 units for the year.
In contrast, if they just cut down to 10 units a week, their consumption for the year will be 520 units – a far better outcome.
