BBC SCIENCE FOCUS MAGAZINE COLLECTION 35occasional glass of wine is unlikely to do you
harm and may well do you some good.SLIMLINE MOSLEY
So what effects did an alcohol-free month
have on me? By the end of November I had lost
just over two kilograms, which was a pleasant
surprise. A bottle of red wine contains about
630 calories, so I calculated that a month of
not drinking had saved me consuming around
5,000 calories, which adds up to around 0.7kg
of fat. I suspect eating fewer crisps also helped.
It’s hard to estimate how much money I saved,because when I went out for a drink or a meal
I still paid for my share of the alcohol. At home
I may have saved around £40 on the bottles of
wine I didn’t buy.
As for my biochemistry, well along with the
weight loss there was a slight fall in my blood
pressure and a modest improvement in my
fasting glucose and cholesterol levels. My liver
enzymes were unchanged. All in all, it was
an interesting experiment. As a result of my
findings, I will attempt to reduce my drinking
to 14 units a week, as that is where the sweet
spot seems to lie. So good luck to anyone who
is thinking of giving Dry January a go.“Eating a bacon sandwich
a couple of times a week
is more dangerous to your
long-term health”
If you are concerned that you or a loved one has a
problem with alcohol, please contact your GP or ring
Drinkline (0300 123 1110) for confidential, free advice.by DR MICHAEL MOSLEY (@DrMichaelMosley)
Dr Mosley is a presenter on BBC Two’s Trust me, I’m a
Doctor and the author of The Clever Guts Diet.