Cancer risks increase with alcohol use, leading to over 740k cases last year

Post by easytiger » Sat, Jul 17, 2021, 9:25 AM UTC

yarcob wrote: post #36

davnn wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, it's not so clear cut. If you live your life according to a Mediterranean lifestyle and drink your glass of wine each day (mostly in a social setting, which is especially important when you grow older), you will be healthier than most other people.

If you live that same life and drink a glass of grape juice instead of wine everyday, you'll live even longer. Alcohol is a poisson and there is no "safe" level. Now, it's a personal decision how much risk is acceptable to you, but don't lie to yourself how "one glass a day is not going to make a difference".

Post by synquid » Sat, Jul 17, 2021, 9:25 AM UTC

the-dude wrote: post #89

michaelmrose wrote: post #43

It is frustrating that they lump in any amount of alcohol up to 2 drinks per day as moderate which honestly isn't all that moderate. Still another way to read that is that while alcohol represents a real risk to community health resources you can mitigate 86% of the risk by limiting yourself to ONLY 68 gallons (257 liters) of beer this year. I would not be terribly surprised if most of the issues with moderate drinke…

And keep in mind alcoholics are under-reporters ( that is, they probably drink more than they admit ). Disclaimer : former 'functioning' alcoholic.

Post by rtpg » Sat, Jul 17, 2021, 9:35 AM UTC

shafyy wrote: post #94

theo102 wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

and these limits are set arbitrarily and are often even more detrimental. If you know the doc says you can have 14 but not 15, you now have a target to be "ok" when you show up to the doctor. If the gap between 14 and 15 is linear and not somehow logarithmic then you're telling me that consuming exactly two drinks a day will be fine, but that extra scotch you have on friday makes you an alcoholic. This term is thrown…

> HN is filled with these pop-sci teetotalers who rag on alcohol but promote the uninhibited abuse of THC and other dangerous mind altering drugs. It's an absurd bizzaro world. Exactly! People have been drinking for millenia, and while alcohol doesn't make you healthier, it's also clear that drinking "normally" doesn't cause major health issues (unlike, smoking cigarettes for example). Sure, if you drink 2 bottles of…

Post by lambdaba » Sat, Jul 17, 2021, 9:37 AM UTC

brador wrote: post #33

flunhat wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the paper, > Globally, an estimated 741 300 (95% UI 558 500–951 200), or 4.1% (3.1–5.3), of all new cases of cancer in 2020 were attributable to alcohol consumption. Males accounted for 568 700 (76.7%; 95% UI 422 500–731 100) of total alcohol-attributable cancer cases, and cancers of the oesophagus (189 700 cases [110 900–274 600]), liver (154 700 cases [43 700–281 500]), and breast (98 300 cases [68 200–130 500…

How though? By what mechanism is alcohol leading to an increase in cancer rates?

Post by refurb » Sat, Jul 17, 2021, 9:53 AM UTC

synquid wrote: post #67

refurb wrote: post #16

My sister works as a nurse in a geriatric department her attitude is “if I make it to 70 I’m going to start smoking”. She’s seen plenty of people with healthy bodies and destroyed minds to know she’s rather avoid that kind of fate.

Lowering your expected lifetime probably also lowers your expected time until disease.