Physical activity seems to moderate the alcohol-related mortality risk

This is the first study to show the potential of physical activity to promote health and reduce alcohol-related risk of all-cause and cancer mortality.

There is compelling evidence that physical activity (PA) is associated with reduced health risks. However, the prevalence of physical inactivity is high worldwide. Limited evidence suggests that health-enhancing PA can moderate the association between alcohol intake and all-cause, cancer and CVD mortality risk.

The results of this British study among 36370 men and women show a dose-response association between alcohol intake and cancer mortality in inactive participants but not in physically active participants. PA slightly attenuated the association between alcohol consumption and all-cause and cancer mortality risk up to a hazardous level of drinking. This effect was evident from the lower range of public health recommendations. The authors conclude that the study results suggest that being physically active can mitigate some mortality risks associated with the consumption of alcoholic beverages.

Perreault K, Bauman A, Johnson N, Britton A, Rangul V, Stamatakis E, Does physical activity moderate the association between alcohol drinking and all-cause, cancer and cardiovascular diseases mortality? A pooled analysis of eight British cohorts, Br J Sports Med 2016, 0:1-8.

For more information about this article, read the scientific abstract here.