Is moderate drinking good for your health? No! Every drop is a killer

A major study points out that there is no safe dose of alcohol, and even light drinking can increase the risk of cancer.

There is no such thing as "moderation" in drinking. | Tuchong Creative

Author | Zhu Yehua

The link between smoking and cancer is well documented and well known, but what about alcohol?

Recently, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) led a major study on drinking and cancer published in The Lancet Oncology, proving how harmful alcohol is. The results showed that at least 4% (741,300 people) of the newly diagnosed esophageal cancer, oral cancer, laryngeal cancer, colon cancer, rectal cancer, liver cancer and breast cancer patients in 2020 can be attributed to drinking. What is more thought-provoking is that the study found that the risk of cancer is also significantly increased for light and moderate drinkers.

To put it bluntly, there is no safe dose of alcohol and every drop is a death sentence[1].
Is there a link between drinking and cancer?

No feast is complete without wine. During festivals, alcohol consumption around the world reaches a peak. "A little drinking can make you happy, but too much drinking can hurt your body" is the "golden advice" that many people give when they are drinking. However, is this really the case?

A large number of studies have shown that heavy drinking can cause alcohol poisoning, liver cirrhosis, myocardial infarction, etc., and increase the incidence of liver cancer, pancreatic cancer, etc. However, many people still believe that as long as you don't drink too much, a little wine can still be enjoyable. However, new research has dealt a heavy blow to this theory, showing that even low levels of drinking can increase the risk of cancer.

Considering that it takes a certain amount of time for drinking to affect the occurrence and development of cancer, the researchers assumed that cancer has a 10-year latent period before diagnosis. The new study counted the per capita alcohol consumption in Canada, Europe, China, Australia and other countries in 2010, and then combined it with the data of new cancer cases in 2020 for analysis. Other possible carcinogenic factors such as smoking and obesity have been eliminated in the study [1].

The study divided alcohol intake into three levels: moderate drinking (60 grams/day, more than 6 glasses of alcoholic beverages per day). After comprehensive analysis, it was found that drinking is associated with an increased risk of cancer. In 2020, 741,300 new cancer cases worldwide were related to drinking, accounting for 4.1% of new cancer cases throughout the year.

Drinking alcohol does increase the risk of cancer. | Tuchong Creative

Men accounted for 77% of all alcohol-related cancer cases. Oesophageal cancer, liver cancer, and breast cancer were the most common, with 189,700, 154,700, and 98,300 cases, respectively. The authors also looked at the relationship between daily alcohol intake and cancer risk. The results showed that heavy drinkers were more likely to face the risk of developing cancer in the future. However, even small amounts of alcohol are a risk factor for the development of cancer. Drinking one or two drinks a day is enough to cause more than 100,000 cancer cases. Heavy drinkers had the most cancer diagnoses, with more than 346,000. Even people who drink only 10 grams of alcohol a day are at risk of developing cancer after 10 years [1].

How does drinking alcohol cause cancer? An article published in the journal Nature in 2018 confirmed that alcohol can directly damage DNA, causing irreversible damage [2]. Ethanol is a form of alcohol found in beer, wine, and liquor. Once it enters the human body, it breaks down to form a known carcinogen called acetaldehyde, which damages human DNA and interferes with the ability of cells to repair damage. Alcohol can also increase hormone levels and accelerate cell growth and division. With more cell divisions, there are more chances for cancer to develop. Alcohol also reduces the body's ability to absorb certain anti-cancer nutrients, including vitamins A, C, D, E, and folic acid. Long-term drinking can also lead to cirrhosis of the liver. More importantly, the combination of drinking and smoking may indirectly increase the risk of cancer, as alcohol is a solvent for carcinogenic chemicals in tobacco.

Of the many ways drinking alcohol can cause cancer, damaging DNA is the primary mechanism. And a critical number of mutations are required in DNA to cause cancer. Over time, this damage accumulates, so if you drink today, tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow, each alcohol intake is actually increasing your risk of cancer. The more a person drinks, the greater the potential for biological damage. Whether it's beer, wine, or liquor, drinking alcohol increases cancer risk. You may have heard that red wine contains healthy compounds, such as resveratrol. But the risk comes from the alcohol itself, and for wine drinkers, whether they drink red or white wine, the risk is the same.

As long as you carry alcohol, it will cause damage to your body, and it will accumulate over time. | Tuchong Creative

Drinking has a positive effect on the cardiovascular system? The results are questionable

When it comes to alcohol and heart health, the existing research is quite contradictory: some studies say alcohol improves heart health, while others suggest the opposite. Just as over the past few decades, multiple studies have shown that moderate drinking is a potential way to prevent heart disease, there have also been a number of studies that have refuted this theory and proved that excessive drinking can harm health.
In 2018, researchers from the University of Washington published an article in The Lancet stating that global mortality and cancer risks clearly increase with alcohol consumption, and that the amount of alcohol consumption that is least harmful to health is zero, rather than the previously inconsistent standards of small amounts or “moderate amounts”. The data for the study came from the 2016 edition of the Global Burden of Disease Study, which used data from 694 studies to estimate the prevalence of global drinking, and used 592 studies (including 28 million people worldwide) to study alcohol-related health risks in 195 countries between 1990 and 2016. The analysis showed that in 2016, more than 2 billion people drank alcohol worldwide, 63% of whom were men, and nearly 3 million people died from drinking, of which 12% were between the ages of 15 and 49. The report emphasizes that the overall negative effects of any alcohol consumption outweigh the positive effects of moderate drinking, especially the effects on cancer [3].

"While the health risks of drinking one drink a day are modest at first, harms rise rapidly as people drink more," the study authors wrote. "Policies that reduce alcohol consumption to minimal levels are important for improving health. The widely held view that alcohol is good for health needs to be revised, especially as improved methods and analyses continue to reveal the extent to which alcohol contributes to death and disability worldwide."

The harm caused by alcohol far outweighs the benefits it brings. | Tuchong Creative

Alcohol has a complex relationship with health, affecting health in many ways. Regular drinking has adverse effects on organs and tissues, acute intoxication can lead to injury or poisoning, and alcohol dependence can lead to frequent poisoning, self-harm or violence. Some previous studies have shown that low levels of intake can be protective against heart disease and diabetes. For example, this study in The Lancet also found that alcohol has a protective effect on ischemic heart disease, and may also have a protective effect on diabetes and ischemic stroke, but these were not statistically significant. The more alcohol you drink per day, the greater your risk of other health problems. Taking these findings together, the protective effects of alcohol are offset by the risks, and overall, the health risks associated with alcohol increase with daily consumption. Therefore, the authors concluded that there is no safe level of alcohol.

A recent study of nearly 108,000 people found that people who regularly drank moderate amounts of alcohol had an increased risk of developing atrial fibrillation (AF), an irregular heart rhythm. The study found that drinking just one drink a day was associated with a 16% increased risk of AF over an average follow-up of 14 years, compared with not drinking at all.[4]

The International Agency for Research on Cancer lists 121 carcinogens on its website, including alcohol, tobacco, ultraviolet radiation and outdoor air pollution. The study said that alcohol can aggravate the carcinogenic effects of other substances such as tobacco (not limited to tobacco). In other words, if you smoke and drink alcohol and live in an environment with poor air quality, you may be more likely to develop cancer than others.

The idea that "a little wine can make you happy" has been believed for many years, and it is time to rewrite it. There is no minimum amount of drinking, and not drinking is the healthiest!

Stay away from alcohol and stay away from harm. | Tuchong Creative

References

[1] Rumgay H, Shield K, Charvat H, Ferrari P, Sornpaisarn B, Obot I et al. Global burden of cancer in 2020 attributable to alcohol consumption: a population-based study. Lancet Oncol. 2021, doi: 10.1016/S1470-2045(21)00279-5.

[2] https://www.nature.com/articles/nature25154.

[3] https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(18)31571-X/fulltext.

[4] http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/eurheartj/ehaa953.

The article is published by "China Science and Technology Press" (ID: cspbooks). Please indicate the source when reprinting.