Not drinking for a whole month is
probably bad for you.
CAMRA, campaigners for real ales, are insisting that
there are no health benefits for shrugging off booze for a whole month. Yes, we
understand the irony of a beer-based organisation saying drinking is good for
you, but let’s hear them out.
According to them drinking in moderation all year round is
substantially better for you than giving it all up for a month. Students around
the world are raising their glasses in celebration.
As Professor Charles Bamforth of the University of
California and author of Beer, Health and Nutrition puts it:
“It’s well known that drinking too much can cause serious
health problems.
Many people don’t realise that drinking in moderation has
significant health benefits and that moderate drinkers have a longer life
expectancy than non-drinkers. Regular moderate intake of alcohol is good for the
heart and blood circulation.
The key is a little and often. You are seriously mistaken if
you think that having a month without drinking will protect you from the
effects of excessive drinking for the rest of the year. The best advice is to
drink moderately throughout the year.”
So if these claims are to be believed, an apple martini a
day will keep the doctor away…
Ari Carrington