Even 1 Drink A Day Ups Women's Cancer Risk

(AP)  A study of nearly 1.3 million British women offers yet more evidence that moderate alcohol consumption increases the risk of a handful of cancers.

British researchers surveyed middle-aged women at breast cancer screening clinics about their drinking habits, and tracked their health for seven years.

A quarter of the women reported no alcohol use. Nearly all the rest reported fewer than three drinks a day; the average was one drink a day. Researchers compared the lightest drinkers - two or fewer drinks a week - with people who drank more.

Each extra drink per day increased the risk of breast, rectal and liver cancer, University of Oxford researchers reported Tuesday in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The type of alcohol - wine, beer or liquor - didn't matter.

That supports earlier research, but the new wrinkle: Alcohol consumption was linked to esophageal and oral cancers only when smokers drank.

Also, moderate drinkers actually had a lower risk of thyroid cancer, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and renal cell cancer.

For an individual woman, the overall alcohol risk is small. In developed countries, about 118 of every 1,000 women develop any of these cancers, and each extra daily drink added 11 breast cancers and four of the other types to that rate, the study found.

But population-wide, 13 percent of those cancers in Britain may be attributable to alcohol, the researchers concluded.

Moderate alcohol use has long been thought to be heart-healthy, something the new research doesn't address but that prompts repeated debate about safe levels. U.S. health guidelines already recommend that women consume no more than one drink a day; two a day for men, who metabolize alcohol differently.

"You have to balance all those things out," said Dr. Philip J. Brooks, who researches alcohol and cancer at the National Institutes of Health. "This kind of information is important for people to know and to consult with their physician about the various risk factors they have."

[baileyccc]

I believe that alcohol can cause a plethora of problems but then one only has to remember Winston Churchill and realize their are a few 90 year old drinkers and smokers that seem to get along just fine. I wonder what their answer is for these people? Posted by Baileyccc

[rowafe]

I am curious... In these surveys, how do they calculate the number of drinks per day? Because if they only ask the participants the number of drinks they have in a week, then those individuals who have 7 to 14 shots of Cuervo every Friday or Saturday night would fall in the same category as the person who has one or two glasses of red wine each evening with dinner. How do the surveyors manage to differentiate between those two dramatically different lifestyles?

[batchitcrazy]

Love it--just take care that the "ride" does not end sooner than it needs to--due to recklessness.
Posted by harbinger19 at 12:14 PM : Feb 25, 2009
----------------------------------------
good morning Harbinger.... the ride is over when it's over. Our days are numbered. Everybody has a differant number.
Do good, enjoy life, tolerate others and see what happens when we take the last journey.
Recklessness is a relative term. What some consider reckless is absolute fun for others.

[brainteaser2]

"Why yes. This is because God punishes us for the sin of consumption. A proper woman would never drink alcohol or smoke cigarettes. Thats why its considered unladylike and diminishes the prospects of finding a nice hard working Christian man to marry and have children with.
Posted by mrs_nesbitt at 6:10 AM : Feb 25, 2009"

Someone needs their medication adjusted. This isn't even an abortion article and a rambling bible pounder is loose.

[harbinger19]

Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming 'WOOOOHOOOO.... what a ride'
Posted by batchitcrazy at 8:46 AM : Feb 25, 2009


Love it--just take care that the "ride" does not end sooner than it needs to--due to recklessness.

[harbinger19]

Apparently you just want ready made commands. In that case, just ask your physician, he or she knows your body and can give the best advice.
Posted by sandy19731 at 6:29 AM : Feb 25, 2009


Your physician cannot and does not know your body--they don't even know their own body. Any Scientist especially in the pharmaceutical field could regale you with stories on how the physician tried to prescribe the wrong substances and were chided by the bench chemist of Scientist who actually worked for the company who makes the products or has more indepth knowledge of that product. Which is why physicians routinely consult the Merck index or PDR before prescribing--because on their own, they don't know and even then--they don't know the effect on your body.

Don't glorify doctors--they are the only profession where they can totally kr@p out and kill their employer (the patient) and still keep their job and get paid.

In my 1st trimester, my ob dr tried to give me tetracycline. Tetracycline is a mutagen (causes cellular mutations in growing fetuses) and should not be given to pregnant women. EVER. I could go on and on--but a certain segment of the population are determined to think of Drs as gods--even though thousands of people die each day to the fallability of doctors and their so called "science".

[credibility2]

Were men also studied as it relates to their alcohol consumption, which generally is much greater than a woman's, and the incidence of prostate cancer? Also, environment, lifestyle, nutrition and other factors may further exacerbate the incidence in one geographical area and therefore shouldn't be patently accepted as sole fact and indicative of a norm.

[batchitcrazy]

Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming 'WOOOOHOOOO.... what a ride'

[jennifer-marie]

So which is it? A drink a day will help your health, or hurt your health?

How about these doctors and scientist admit the truth: They don't know what helps or hurts our health, they just guess at trends within a certain group of the population every few years and change their theories.

How's this? Eat and drink in moderation, exercise, get fresh air for a few minutes every day - and you should live a long time.

[dragyn30]

This is hysterical - last month red wine was the "fountain of youth" and contained cancer fighting agents!

To Mrs_Nesbitt if that was true then God is a hypocrite - he drank wine regularly, so my guess is you're self-righteous BS is going to land you a seat at the "Children's table" while mine will be at God's table and guess what? There will be a wine glass in front of me!!!

There are so many things that cause cancer - I agree with others FIND THE D A M N CURE!!!! Forget these meaningless reports that contradict each other - just find a cure!