February 26, 2009 – Whether they drink a little or a little alcohol, middle-aged women who drink it regularly have a 13% increased risk of developing cancer before they turn 75 .
This is what emerges from the British Million Women Study, carried out on a cohort of 1.2 million women aged 55 on average. Since 2000, they have all been followed for seven years, as part of a national breast cancer screening program.1.
The increased risk of developing cancer prevails regardless of the type of alcohol consumed: wine does not cause less cancer than beer or spirits, according to the results.
These show that, among women who regularly drink less than three drinks per day, there is a 1.5% increase in risk.
Concretely, this means 15 additional cancer cases for every 1,000 women, broken down as follows:
- breast cancer: 11 additional cases;
- cancer of the pharynx, mouth and rectum: 1 additional case for each;
- cancer of the esophagus, larynx and liver: 0.7 additional cases for each.
“These figures may seem small at first glance, but since the proportion of women who consume light or moderate alcohol is high, this is an important public health issue,” write the authors of the study. .
For breast cancer, taking replacement hormones did not influence the risk attributable to alcohol, the researchers say.
Alcohol and tobacco
In addition, they noted that the increased risk of cancer of the esophagus, larynx, pharynx and mouth occurred only among smokers who drink. To explain this peculiarity, they put forward the hypothesis that alcohol could “awaken” the carcinogenic substances of tobacco smoke.
Finally, drinking little or moderately alcohol was associated with a considerable reduction in the risk of developing non-Hodgkin lymphoma (-13%) and cancer of the thyroid gland (-25%).
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Cancer cases attributed specifically to alcohol, according to the study:
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“No amount of alcohol is safe”
This study thwarts the many public health messages attributing certain benefits to moderate alcohol consumption on cardiovascular health.
“From a cancer point of view, the message could not be clearer: no regular consumption of alcohol can be considered safe,” write two doctors in an editorial in the same edition of the journal that published the study.2.
According to them, the “modest benefits” that alcohol can bring to cardiovascular health must now be seen in a broader perspective. Now we have to consider the increased risk of cancer that its consumption can pose – especially in women between 40 and 70 years of age.
“Now the only reasonable recommendation we can make to middle-aged women is that there is no evidence that alcohol has health benefits,” they summarize.
Scienceâ € ¦ in moderation!
For the general director of the Éduc’alcool program3, Hubert Sacy, the study has an important limitation. “The analysis is based on the number of drinks per day, which is however taken from the number of weekly drinks reported by the participants. “
Thus, for a given week, women who drank only one drink per day and those who drank seven drinks on one occasion are part of the same analysis group.
“However, the effect on health is not the same: excessive consumption, even occasional, causes much more damage than moderate and regular consumption”, insists Hubert Sacy.
According to him, alcohol has always had advantages and disadvantages. But he argues that they must be put in perspective.
“When a study indicates that there is a 25% increased risk, for example, that does not mean that 25% of people are at risk of getting sick: it means that the relative risk increases by a quarter of a point” , he nuances.
This is why he believes that even in science, “moderation tastes much better”!
React to this news on our Blog Alcohol and health: moderation would not taste better …
Martin LaSalle – PasseportSanté.net
1. Allen NE, et al, Moderate Alcohol Intake and Cancer Incidence in Women, Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Flight. 101, Issue 5, March 4, 2009, 296 – 305. Advance Access published February 24, 2009
2. Lauer MS, Sorlie P, Alcohol, Cardiovascular Disease, and Cancer: Treat With Caution, Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Flight. 101, Issue 5, March 4, 2009, 282-3. Advance Access published online on February 24, 2009.
3. Éduc’alcool is an independent, non-profit organization. It brings together organizations that set up prevention, education and information programs on responsible alcohol consumption. For more information: www.educalcool.qc.ca.
