Dr. Mercola August 18 2007 42,325 views
Cancer researchers in the United Kingdom have concluded that drinking as little as one glass of alcohol a day increases your risk of developing bowel cancer by about 10 percent. And, the more you drink, the more your risk of cancer increases.
The study included almost 480,000 people in the U.K. who were questioned about their level of alcohol intake, with follow-ups over the course of six years. In that period, 1,833 developed colon cancer.
The study showed that those who drank more than 30 grams of alcohol per day (less than two pints of strong lager) raised their cancer risk by about 25 percent.
According to Dr. Walker, Cancer Research UK’s director of cancer information, “While there is increasing evidence that over indulging in alcohol can increase the risk of some cancers, research also shows that by far the biggest risk for life threatening diseases is the combination of smoking together with drinking alcohol.”
BBC News July 30, 2007
International Journal of Cancer July 19, 2007
There is a lot of confusion over safe drinking levels. However, despite the fact that there are some studies touting “benefits” of drinking small amounts of alcohol, such as wine, I personally do not recommend drinking alcohol. There’s far too much evidence showing that alcohol is seriously detrimental to your health.
Alcohol is, in fact, a neurotoxin that can poison your brain. It can also cause a serious disruption of your delicate hormone balance.
In addition, excessive drinking -- just like smoking -- may also be the cause of several other cancers, including cancer of the:
A previous study on alcohol consumption and breast cancer even found that postmenopausal women who drink more than half a glass of alcohol per day, and have low intakes of the B vitamin folate, are 60 percent more likely to develop breast cancer than those who do not drink alcohol and have the highest intake of folate.
Does that mean you could just eat more vegetables (high in folate) and be safe? While that would provide you with many health benefits, it will not protect you from the toxic effects of alcohol.
Alcohol is broken down in your body into a chemical called acetaldehyde, which, by the way, is the chemical responsible for hangover symptoms. When acetaldehyde reacts with the neurotransmitter dopamine, it can cause mental and emotional disturbances such as anxiety, depression, and poor concentration.
If you look up the toxicology of acetaldehyde, you'll find that it adversely affects many tissues and organs in your body, which may play a large part in increasing the risk of so many chronic diseases and cancers.
And remember, wine does count as alcohol. Most of the benefits from drinking wine are largely related to the polyphenolic bioflavonoids found in the grape skins and seeds. It is not the alcohol or the carbohydrate content that is helpful.
YOU ARE CORRECT, RUSS.
No wonder I seem to gain weight on the days after indulging in a glass of wine with dinner *lightbulb moment!*
You know, I get really suspicious of advice that tells me something contrary to thousands of years of human practice, plus advice in the Bible. Drinking alcohol in one form or another is something nearly every culture around the world beyond the most basic hunter/gatherer engages in. (And even some of the basic hunter/gatherers do/did.)
Tell me to drink in moderation. Tell me to avoid modern toxins that may be used in store-bought alcohol. But don't try to make me believe that moderate alcohol use of itself is detrimental. There's just too much history to make me believe that.
Hmmm, personally I've never felt any depressing side effects from drinking a glass of red wine, or other alcohol for that matter.
What really bothers my about many of these medical studies is that they are not unbiased and not even scientific.
To make a real scientific unbiased study, you need to randomly select two groups of people. One group you ask to drink one more glass of a SPECIFIC alcoholic drink where alcohol is the ONLY harmful ingredient in. IOW, you'd have to poor 30g of alcohol into a glass of water or something like that. The second group also must drink an extra glass of water, except with no alcohol in it. Then you need to keep a close eye on all these people and make sure they don't change their behaviors and eating habits as a result of drinking this extra glass of water.
As anyone can understand this is an impossible task and you'd have to compromise on the experiment. E.g., you don't supervise these people's behaviors. But right there goes all the control out of the window.
Generally speaking, I am very sceptical towards any of the studies, even if double blind, etc. People are too hard to control. Experiments with monkeys and mice, in the end, are probably more accurate. Though here you have to question to correlation between the physiology between a monkey/mice and a human.
In the end, one should use common sense about drinking alcoholic beverages. As someone said, wine has been consumed since before the time of Jesus. And Jesus himself, according to the Bible at least, apparantly didn't have a problem with wine drinking.
Could it be that red/white wine is an exception to consuming alcohol? At least as long as it's done moderately? I personally think so, but don't have a shed of evidence...he he.
We all make our own decisions where we feel comfortable. If you feel you want to have alcohol intake as part of what makes your life worth living by all means you should do so. It is important to know, however, that there is a risk associated with that behavior, actually there are several risks. I for one am grateful that Dr Mercola points this out to us. For me alcohol plays no part in making my life a more positive experience so actually this article is rather pointless for me; I don't drink. For others it is information you ought to have.
I find it interesting how vehement the comments get when it comes to negative news about alcohol consumption. Where does this emotional content come from?
Also all the comments about natural brewing, home brewing and "organic" brews and wines seems off base to me, makes it seem like the issue is supposed to have something to do with the manner and means of alcohol production, not the alcohol itself. Whereas I'm all in favor of natural organic products, that is not the questions at hand; the problem is the alcohol itself. Trying to divert the discussion to an unrelated topic by taking a stance in a direction that we are all sympathetic with is a straw man argument meant to cover the dismay felt because somebody is bringing up information that may require one to question something that we feel is profoundly basic in our lives.
Think about that for a minute. Is alcohol all that essential in our lives? Why? People manage to live perfectly happy lives without alcohol. Other people have managed to damage themselves severely with the use of alcohol. You are exposing yourself to a risk here, not just a risk of abuse but even with moderate use of alcohol a risk of colon cancer..., and that's probably not the end of that story either. A beer gut is not a sign of robust health, even if it is organic home brewed beer.
It is always your decision to make. I thank the Dr for making us aware of issues as he finds them.
Well said, daveh. I do drink a glass of wine nightly and what you just wrote seriously hit home with me. We make all of these changes elsewhere in our lives to better our bodies and lengthen our lives...
What makes alcohol such a special exception? What if that exception was a (*thinking of something gross*) a Twinkie? Oh, I only have one twinkie a night.
Hmmm... rethinking my nightly wine. :)
daveh makes a very rational point. We are only being provided with information. What we do with that knowledge is up to us. I do like the point he made regarding our diversion tactics to "cover dismay being felt...to questions something we feel is profoundly basic in our lives." That is the crux of the matter, isn't it? To take an honest look at all those things we think we hold dear and see, truthfully, if they are worth clinging to. Thanks daveh!