Can Exercise Make Up For Alcohol?

You exercise, and you drink. The exercise is good for your health, and the drinking is, well, not so good. But can exercise make up for the damage done by alcohol? Researchers at the University of Montreal set out to answer that question and found, whew, that the short answer is “pretty much.” HealthDay reports that the researchers reviewed results of eight health surveys that included 36,300 people aged 40 and older, and  evaluated their exercise patterns and drinking habits. First, the bad news. Compared to those who never drank, “hazardous” drinkers  (8 to 20 U.S. standard drinks for women and 12 to 28 for men) appeared to have an elevated risk of death from any cause. In fact, compared with those who never drank, the study showed that drinking even these average amounts of alcohol was linked to a 36 percent higher odds of death from cancer and a 13 percent higher risk of death from any cause. And now the good news. The study found that for drinkers, recommended levels of moderate activity (150 minutes) or the upper level of activity (300 minutes) “substantially” decreased the raised odds of death from all causes and cut cancer-death risk. The researchers believe that exercise and alcohol share similar pathways in the body, and while drinking might cause harm, exercise may be protective.