How Much Wine Do You Really Sip?
Move over... the most interesting folks in the world...
Most people drink way more alcohol than they realize. At the same time, none of us want to ever battle a diagnosis of cancer.
Alcoholic beverages, and their being viewed as “cool” and “sophisticated” ways to relax and have fun, have trumped our realization of their consequences.
The more you drink, even from a high end-bar from a high end-glass, increases the risk of getting many cancers. From esophageal and colorectal to breast and prostate. And more.
You don’t have to give up alcohol completely. But regularly drinking too much puts you at risk of a scenario you would never hope to face.
New data suggests that reducing alcohol intake sharply reduces the risk of developing alcohol-related cancers. This list of potential cancers is shockingly longer than you might have realized.
But how much alcohol is too much?
The highest risks are now observed among people who drink “3” alcoholic beverages per day and higher. For a smaller woman, with a smaller liver, it might be two per day.
The emphasis is one per day. You can drink 3 in one day if that is the only day you are drinking that week. But two to three most days raises your risk of a cancer diagnosis.
Also, keep in mind: that if you drink large glasses of wine you may be getting more than what is considered one glass.
When taking a patient’s “intake”, I have to dig deep to get a realistic sense of how much people drink. Many of us just don’t realize it ourselves. Or fool ourselves. Or try to “keep” up with our spouses.
Alcohol has become a central part of socializing. And relaxing. Or seeming “cool” as we see the ads on the TV that the most interesting people in the world are recommending various brews.
Previous studies have estimated that alcohol accounts for nearly 4% of newly diagnosed cancers worldwide. And almost 5% of cancers in the U.S. This equals what we regard as “genetic” risks.
Alcohol-Cancer Risk Links
But newer figures show the alcohol-cancer-risk links, to be much higher.
Alcohol accounts for:
≥45% of oral cavity/pharyngeal cancers! (almost half of this type of cancer)
≥25% of laryngeal cancers,
12.1% of female breast cancers, (while women fear estrogen that’s been shown to be mostly breast cancer protective)
11.1% of colorectal cancers,
10.5% of liver cancers, and
7.7% of esophageal cancers.
The “alcohol-cancer” link is huge. Especially when you start to imbibe 3 drinks a day. Or more.
Plus, alcohol “packs” the pounds on. Especially on the gut!
The Latest Study
This latest study involved a huge analysis of data on 4.5 million individuals who were adult beneficiaries of the Korean National Health Insurance Service. The median age of the participants was 53.6 years and was followed for about 7 years.
The alcohol-cancer link was found to be clearly dose dependent: the more you drink, the more your risk.
Those who changed from non-drinking to mild, moderate, or heavy drinking were at increasingly higher risk for alcohol-related cancers. Compared with those who remained non-drinkers.
Once you quit alcohol, these risks go down. Down. Down. Down.
Alcohol cessation, or significant reduction, reduces your risk of multiple cancers.
I went out with a very cool guy for a bit. Then he let his guard down. He started to bring over multiple bottles of brew. And drink them all himself.
Exit stage left!
This doesn’t mean you can’t regularly enjoy some wine or alcoholic drinks.
Just be “moderate”. What a concept!
Plus, make sure you have some days where you don’t drink at all.
Give the lining of your esophagus and gut a break. Let your liver do its many other diverse jobs.
Take your health seriously. No one else will ever care about your health as much as you might.
Facing a serious diagnosis, especially when you just planned to slow down and smell the roses, is a sad but all too common story.
Remember the all-important other vitamin D = discipline.
Discipline matters. It helps keep you healthier and younger… longer.
Reduce your alcohol intake. Try bubbly water with various added flavors. Once it’s inside a glass, no one else knows what you’re sipping.
Dr. B.
Reference:
JAMA Netw Open. Published online August 24, 2022. Full text, Editorial
It is also useful to remember that commercial alcohol has a ton of chemicals added to it from planting and growing to aging and final bottling. The Australians are famous for learning what taste the current wine reviewers are after and tinkering with chemicals to achieve that taste. There is no dispute that many of these chemicals are carcinogenic and generally disruptive to one's mitochondrial health.
Making one's own raw, fermented alcohol is a good way to approach the desire to drink. It also provides natural B vitamin complexes -- the best scientific guess I could find on B vitamins was that there are 50-100 B vitamin complexes that one's body is supposed to produce itself.
On another note, product placement of alcohol in everything from movies to magazine shoots is a pervasive and undeclared issue.
The 2nd paragraph under How Much Alcohol is Too Much? says ON per day instead of ONE per day. Since this is the punch line, you may want to correct this.