Gin: the control arm in somebody else's wine trial

Almost everything we can tell you about gin comes from trials that used it as a control. Researchers wanted to know what red wine does beyond its alcohol, so they poured gin at the same dose and compared. That design answers one question well. At 30 g of ethanol a day for 28 days, gin raised HDL cholesterol and apolipoproteins A-I and A-II in 67 men at high cardiovascular risk, just as red wine did, and only the wine arms improved insulin resistance. On oxidative markers the two drinks parted company: superoxide dismutase was 8.1 U/gHb lower and malondialdehyde 11.9 nmol/L lower after wine than after gin. That is the gap between the two arms, not a measured change under gin on its own. Read those numbers for what they are. They are blood markers over four weeks. Nobody counted heart attacks, and 30 g of ethanol a day poured out by a research team is not how anyone drinks at home. Every trial on this page was run in men. Over all of it sits the WHO position, that no amount of alcohol has been shown to be free of effect on health.

What it does to your health

• At the same 30 g of ethanol a day for 28 days, gin left oxidative markers where red wine lowered them, with plasma superoxide dismutase 8.1 U/gHb lower and malondialdehyde 11.9 nmol/L lower after wine than after gin. — 40 healthy men of mean age 38, randomised crossover, 30 g of ethanol a day as wine or gin for 28 days after a 15-day washout (n = 40) Evidence B source
  Wine against gin: SOD -8.1 U/gHb (CI as printed in the abstract, -138 to -25, P = 0.009), MDA -11.9 nmol/L (95% CI -21.4 to -2.5, P = 0.020), oxidised LDL -11.0 U/L
• Gin at 30 g of ethanol a day for 28 days lowered three circulating adhesion markers in 20 healthy men, the same three that fell after cava at the same dose. — 20 healthy men aged 34 plus or minus 9 years, randomised crossover, 30 g of ethanol a day as cava or gin for 28 days after two weeks of abstinence (n = 20) Evidence B source
  Vascular cell adhesion molecule-1, E-selectin and P-selectin fell after both drinks at P < 0.05, while CRP, ICAM-1, IL-6 and MCP-1 fell only after cava
• In 67 men at high cardiovascular risk, 4 weeks of gin at 30 g of ethanol a day raised HDL cholesterol and apolipoproteins A-I and A-II just as red wine did, while only the wine arms improved insulin resistance. — 67 men at high cardiovascular risk, crossover through red wine, dealcoholized red wine and gin, each for 4 weeks at 30 g of alcohol a day for the alcoholic arms (n = 67) Evidence B source
  HDL cholesterol and apolipoprotein A-I and A-II up after red wine and after gin, insulin and HOMA-IR down only after red wine and dealcoholized red wine
• Over three weeks of dinners with four glasses of Dutch gin, red wine, beer or water in 11 men, serum nitric oxide metabolites ended up the same whichever alcoholic drink was served. — 11 healthy non-smoking middle-aged men, randomised diet-controlled crossover, three weeks per beverage (n = 11) Evidence B source
  No differences in serum nitric oxide metabolites between the alcoholic beverages

Safety, limits and interactions

• 50 g of ethanol taken with 50 g of glucose drove plasma glucose below 2.8 mmol/l in 4 of 14 men. — 14 men aged 20 to 50, nine of normal weight and five obese, given 50 g of ethanol with either a 50 g glucose load or a maize starch solution over an hour (n = 14) Evidence B source
  Higher early insulin response and a lower later glucose fall with the sugar mixer, glucose below 2.8 mmol/l in 4 subjects
• Quinine, an alkaloid with antipyretic and anti-infective properties, is an ingredient in tonic water. — One 31-year-old man, skin tests with aeroallergens and foods negative, 48-hour patch tests positive (n = 1) Evidence C source
  Ulcers on the lips and oral cavity 3 to 4 hours after the drink, fixed erythematous lesion at 24 hours, quinine patch test positive at two plus
• WHO states that no amount of alcohol is free of effect on health. — General population, WHO Regional Office for Europe statement of 4 January 2023 Evidence E source
  No safe amount established, Group 1 carcinogen classification

The bottom line

Two more findings, both small. In 20 healthy men, gin at the same 30 g a day lowered three circulating markers of atherosclerosis, vascular cell adhesion molecule-1, E-selectin and P-selectin. Cava lowered those three and four others. In 11 men who drank four glasses with dinner for three weeks at a time, nitric oxide in the blood ended up the same whichever alcoholic drink was served. What you mix it with may matter. When 14 men were given 50 g of ethanol together with 50 g of glucose, blood sugar fell below 2.8 mmol/l in four of them. That study was done in 1984 in a laboratory, with the alcohol and the sugar swallowed inside an hour. If you take insulin or another drug that lowers blood sugar, ask the person who prescribes it before you treat this as harmless. The tonic carries a risk of its own. A 31-year-old man developed mouth ulcers and a fixed skin lesion after a gin and tonic, with patch tests positive for quinine. One person is the weakest evidence on this page, and it is here because quinine sits in the tonic and almost nobody thinks to look for it. Now the holes, because they are wide. We have no USDA entry for gin in this cohort, so there is no composition table under this page at all. We found nothing on how gin differs between brands or botanicals, nothing on the size of a pour as people actually make it, and nothing that tested the health claims made for juniper. Every study above enrolled men, most of them middle-aged and healthy or at cardiac risk. We cannot tell you what these doses do in women, and we have nothing on pregnancy, on older drinkers, or on gin with any medicine other than that single quinine case. Missing evidence is not reassurance. It means the question was never asked.

Sources

1. gin-r4-01 · randomised crossover trial
   Compared to gin intervention, wine intake reduced plasma SOD activity [-8.1 U/gHb (95% confidence interval, CI, -138 to -25; P=0.009)] and MDA levels [-11.9 nmol/L (CI, -21.4 to-2.5; P=0.020)].
   Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis, 2011 · checked 2026-09-23
2. gin-r4-02 · randomised crossover trial
   Circulating markers of atherosclerosis including vascular cell adhesion molecule-1, E-selectin, and P-selectin decreased after both interventions (all P < 0.05).
   J Nutr, 2007 · checked 2026-09-23
3. gin-r4-03 · randomised crossover trial
   HDL cholesterol, Apolipoprotein A-I and A-II increased after red wine and gin.
   Clin Nutr, 2013 · checked 2026-09-23
4. gin-r4-05 · randomised crossover trial
   The fasted serum NOx concentration (13 h after dinner) was similar to the preprandial concentration and there were no differences in serum NOx concentrations between the alcoholic beverages.
   Clin Exp Pharmacol Physiol, 2003 · checked 2026-09-23
5. gin-r4-04 · randomised trial
   In four subjects (3 of them non-obese) plasma glucose concentrations dropped below 2.8 mmol/l after drinking the glucose-alcohol solution.
   Alcohol Alcohol, 1984 · checked 2026-09-23
6. gin-r4-06 · case report
   Quinine is an alkaloid with antipyretic and anti-infective properties, and also an ingredient in tonic waters.
   Rev Alerg Mex, 2023 · checked 2026-09-23
7. gin-r4-07 · agency statement
   there is no safe amount that does not affect health
   WHO Regional Office for Europe, statement of 4 January 2023 · checked 2026-09-23