Good news – A new study says running offsets some of the negative health impacts of drinking beer.
And no, I’m not talking about preventing a beer belly. Calorie consumption is one thing, sure. But you only have to run a couple of miles at a decent pace to burn the 200 or so calories in a bottle of IPA.
No, this refers to a much scarier health risk associated with alcohol consumption that we beer lovers prefer not to think about – an increased risk of cancer. In August last year, Perrault and colleagues conducted a study that looked at eight British-based surveys covering over 35,000 men and women aged over 40 and drew two important conclusions:
- The bad news: There is a direct association between alcohol consumption and cancer mortality risk, starting with drinking even at the recommended guidelines (about six pints of 4% lager per week, so likely fewer stronger (but tastier) craft brews).
- The good news: This risk was reduced in those that met the recommendations for physical activity – at least 7.5 MET-hours/week (about one half-hour run at 7:30 per mile pace). See, I told you there was good news.
In fact, the analysis the researchers did showed that the association between alcohol intake and mortality risk was reduced for all causes in those that met the exercise recommendations, while the associated cancer risk was almost nullified entirely.
Why? Hold on for the science bit…
Too many antioxidants in beer?
Just this month, Gostner et. al. elaborated on why exercise can have this beneficial effect in the British Medical Journal.
Interestingly, they propose that it’s the high number of antioxidants in many alcoholic beverages, craft beer included, that are one of the risk factors. Though they have long been promoted as a super-cure-all, too many antioxidants can actually suppress the signals that trigger some anti-tumour signals in the body.
The theory is that, in extremely simple terms, exercise counters this by activating resting immune cells that reduce the negative effects of the antioxidant excess.
That said, (why is there always a catch?), heavy and repeated physical exercise can provoke a chronic activation of this immune function and so actually reduce it again – one of the many reasons overtraining is a bad idea.
But, in conclusion, all you need to take away from this post is that meeting the current public health recommendations for exercise offsets some of the health risks associated with drinking beer. Cheers to that. See, I told you craft beer and running is a thing…