In a new study, researchers found that quitting alcohol may improve health-related quality of life for people, especially their mental well-being.
The finding suggests that stopping alcohol drinking may benefit mental health.
The study was done by a team from the University of Hong Kong.
Global alcohol consumption is expected to continue to increase, and recent guidelines suggest that moderate drinking alcohol could improve health-related quality of life.
In the study, the team tested 10,386 people from the FAMILY Cohort in Hong Kong who were nondrinkers or moderate drinkers between 2009 and 2013.
About 64% of men were nondrinkers (abstainers and former drinkers) and almost 88% of women were nondrinkers.
The moderate drinkers drank 14 drinks or less per week for men and 7 drinks or less per week for women.
The mean age of the participants was 49 years and 56% were women.
The researchers found that men and women who were lifetime abstainers had the best mental well-being at the start of the study.
In women who were moderate drinkers and quit drinking, quitting was linked to an improvement in mental well-being.
The new finding shows that moderate drinking is not linked to the best mental wellness and that quitting drinking may be linked to a positive change in mental well-being.
The study provides new evidence suggesting caution in recommending moderate drinking as part of a healthy diet.
One author of the study is Dr. Michael Ni, School of Public Health and The State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science.
The study is published CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).
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