Dry January worth the hype? New BC-made tool shows the impact of drinking less
December is a month full of get-togethers featuring plenty of family, food, and, quite often, alcohol. So it’s no wonder why many people participate in “Dry January” to take a break from (or entirely cut out) alcohol.
But how much does alcohol really affect you? Researchers from UVic’s Canadian Institute of Substance Use Research (CISUR) have created an online tool to answer that very question.
KnownAlcohol.ca is an online calculator that generates estimates of the potential risks related to an individual’s alcohol use and what the benefits of cutting back might be.
“When Canada’s Guidance on Alcohol and Health was released two years ago, it started the first national conversation on alcohol consumption,” said CISUR director Dr. Tim Naimi, who was also part of the expert advisory panel that created the guidance. “We wanted to take it a step further and make a tool that showed people personalized results so they could make evidence-informed decisions about their drinking habits.”
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According to the website, a male in his thirties who has five drinks per week has a 0.5% risk of dying early from alcohol, loses 3.8 minutes of his life per drink, and has an 8.1% chance of alcohol-related cancer. Additionally, the website says that drinking this much is the equivalent of smoking two cigarettes per week.
But don’t worry; the website also shows you the benefits of reducing your alcohol intake. If the same male in his thirties goes down from five drinks to three drinks, he would regain eight minutes of his life per drink that was not drunk and consume the equivalent of one fewer cigarettes per week.
In addition to the calculator, the website also provides general information about alcohol’s impacts, a quiz to test people’s knowledge, a standard drink calculator, and more.
“A can of peas has more information on it than a can of beer,” said Naimi. “We wanted to provide credible information about alcohol with this site and calculator. People have the right to know.”
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