Is whisky good for health? Can a dram a day keep the doctor away? It is, after all, a spirit that can be drunk neat; skipping the calories that come with mixing an alcohol in an aerated or carbonated beverage. Or on the rocks, which—last time we checked—was just pure water.
However, if you try taking this logic (read: wishful thinking) to the doctor’s chamber, prepare to be laughed out of the room.
Is whisky good for health? Here’s what experts have to say
The French Paradox
“The myth (of whisky being good for health) traces back to the French Paradox, where a group of scientists had posited the idea that the low rates of heart disease among the French may be due to their proclivity for drinking wine,” says Dr. Raja Ray, a reputed Kolkata-based Consultant Cardiologist. At first, this link was limited to red wine, but it later extrapolated to include other kinds of alcohol, including whisky.
This term was coined around the 1980s, when, for a few glorious years, the world somehow believed that guzzling down bottles of red wine would somehow benefit your heart muscles.
“This is because red wine and whisky both possess antioxidants called polyphenols, which are known to increase the levels of HDL (aka good) cholesterol, and thereby protect the heart,” Dr. Ray adds.
However, this myth has been dispelled. Kicking back a bottle of wine or whisky can be detrimental to your overall health.
Is whisky good for health?
“Recent studies have dispelled the French Paradox, and found that alcohol is in no way beneficial to the heart, or to health in general,” Dr. Ray states.
The countless reports found that the relatively low levels of coronary heart disease among the French were linked to a number of other factors, such as their diet. The French typically follow the Mediterranean diet, which consists largely of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, and olive oil, and limited amounts of lean protein from fish and poultry.
In 2023, the World Health Organization released a statement that was published in The Lancet Public Health. It declared that there was no such thing as a “safe amount” of alcohol; a level which didn’t affect a person’s health at all.
What are the doctor’s recommendations?
However, this doesn’t mean that you need to throw out your bottles of expensive single malts and go cold turkey right this minute. The American Heart Association recommends no more than one drink a day for an adult woman, and two drinks for an adult man, as long as the respective individuals do not have any other underlying health issue.
“Drinking whisky for recreational purposes over the weekend — but in complete moderation and only if you aren’t drinking it on the other days of the week — doesn’t really affect your health in a major way. However, if you aren’t a regular drinker or haven’t yet begun drinking, I would recommend that you steer away from it completely,” says Dr. Ray.