A few drinks are better than paracetamol for pain

It’s the research we’ve all been waiting for – new research shows that a couple of alcoholic drinks are better than paracetamol for dealing with pain.

Scientists at Greenwich University in London looked at 18 existing studies on the effects of alcohol on the pain threshold and found “robust support for analgesic effects of alcohol”.

In results published in The Journal of Pain, they said that three to four drinks produced a small rise in the test subjects’ pain threshold and a moderate to large drop in their ratings of pain intensity.

Possibly unsurprisingly, the researchers also found that the more the test subjects drank, the more their pain threshold increased.

Unfortunately, the strongest pain-killing effect happened when the amount of alcohol consumed was above the World Health Organization guidelines on healthy drinking levels.

Trevor Thompson, who led the study, told The Sun that the effect of alcohol on pain was similar to opiod drugs such as codeine and more powerful than paracetamol.

But he said more research was needed to determine whether the effect was due to alcohol blunting the sensation of pain by acting on brain receptors, or lowering anxiety, which in turn reduced the perception of pain.

But the study noted that there were risks in the finding that “alcohol is an effective analgesic that delivers clinically-relevant reductions in ratings of pain intensity”.

“[This] could explain alcohol misuse in those with persistent pain despite its potential consequences for long-term health,” according to the study.

Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council advises drinking no more than two standard drinks a day or more than four on a single occasion. A can or stubbie of mid-strength beer, a 30 millilitre nip of spirits or 130mls of wine is equivalent to one standard drink.

What do you think of the research results?