Does quitting alcohol harm cholesterol? Experts weigh in on new 10-year study

A study tracking nearly 57,700 individuals in Japan over ten years found that alcohol cessation is linked to higher LDL and lower HDL cholesterol levels.

A study that tracked people for 10 years in Japan has found that those who quit alcohol had higher levels of LDL or 'bad' cholesterol and lower levels of HDL or 'good' cholesterol, compared to those who continued drinking. Experts, however, sounded caution regarding the study's methodology.

Researchers from Japan, including those from the Institute of Science Tokyo and the US' Harvard Medical School, looked at over 3.2 lakh yearly health check-ups at a centre for preventive medicine made by nearly 57,700 individuals from October 2012 to October 2022.

Link between alcohol and cholesterol

The findings, published in The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Network Open, also showed opposite effects among people when they started drinking, "associated with (a) modest cholesterol improvement".

The study does not directly prove that alcohol causes these effects, even as the researchers suggested monitoring lipid profiles after changing alcohol habits to manage cholesterol. "Alcohol cessation (stopping) was significantly associated with increased LDL-C and decreased HDL-C levels compared to continuing alcohol intake," the authors wrote.

Further, "alcohol initiation was associated with modest cholesterol improvement, whereas cessation was associated with less favourable changes," they wrote. Experts, however, pointed out issues with the study's methodology.

"For example, some people who ceased drinking might have been heavy drinkers compared to the moderate drinkers who seem to have benefited from alcohol consumption," Stephen Bright, a senior lecturer of addiction at Edith Cowan University, Australia, and not involved in the study, said.

Bright added that research suggesting wine consumption to have cardiovascular benefits have now been disproven. Studies suggesting benefits of moderate drinking -- a drink per week to two in a day -- on heart health and longevity have been analysed and consistently been called out for flawed methodologies.

Experts debunk myth of alcohol’s cardiovascular benefits

One such research, published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs in 2024, reviewed 107 published studies and said that they tend to focus on moderate drinkers among older adults and compare them to 'abstainers' and 'occasional drinkers'. The results make people who continue to drink look much healthier in comparison, according to lead researcher Tim Stockwell, a scientist at the University of Victoria, Canada.

Bright added, "Like the research into the apparent cardiovascular benefits of alcohol if people who have been heavy drinkers but ceased consuming alcohol are excluded from the analysis, the data might show there is actually no benefit from consuming alcohol on cholesterol levels."

In January 2023, the World Health Organization (WHO) published a statement in The Lancet Public Health journal, saying when it comes to consuming alcohol, "no safe amount can be established" that does not affect health.