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How many cigarettes are there in a bottle of wine?
Drinking a bottle of 750 milliliters a week is associated with the same risk of cancer as smoking five cigarettes a week for men and ten cigarettes for women, according to a new study published Thursday in BMC Public Health.
Although many people know that the link between cancer and tobacco has been well established in decades of scientific research, the classification of alcohol as a carcinogen is not as well understood by the public. In fact, a 2017 survey by the American Society of Clinical Oncology found that 70% of Americans did not know that alcohol use was a risk factor for cancer.
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The National Cancer Institute has reported "clear patterns" between alcohol consumption and the development of head and neck cancers, esophageal cancer, liver cancer, breast cancer and colorectal cancer . The more people drink alcohol (including cumulative consumption over time), the more likely they are to develop cancer, but even light drinkers (who drink a glass a day) and heavy drinkers (bringing four or more drinks in one session) have a moderately increased risk of these cancers.
The British research team from Southampton University Hospital, the NHS Foundation Trust, Bangor University and the University of Southampton has therefore made an effort to compare the cancer risk associated with wine consumption relative to the cancer risk associated with cigarette, in order to raise public awareness about alcohol. associated cancer risks.
They analyzed the Cancer Research UK data on lifetime cancer risk in the general population, as well as data on the number of cancers in the population that may be related to tobacco and alcohol in general. particular. And they calculated that if 1,000 men and 1,000 non-smoking women each drank a bottle of wine a week, about 10 men and 14 additional women could develop cancer during their lifetime; equates to lifetime cancer risk arising from a man having five cigarettes a week and a woman from 10 smokers.
In addition, drinking three bottles of wine a week (about half a bottle per day) was considered to be cancer risk related to cigarette consumption at about eight cigarettes per week for men and 23 cigarettes per week for women .
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Wine raises the risk of women to men because there is a strong correlation between breast cancer and alcohol consumption. A pooled analysis of data from 53 studies found that women who drank an alcoholic once a day increased their relative risk of breast cancer by about 7% compared to women who did not drink alcohol; those who drank two to three drinks a day had a 20% higher risk. Women also drink more wine than men, consuming 57% of US bottles, according to Nielsen. Americans spent a total of $ 71 billion on wine last year.
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The authors warned that their report contained many warnings; On the one hand, it was inspired by data from 2004. It did not consider other cancer risk factors, such as age, diet, or family history of cancer. And he did not take into account other harmful effects of smoking without cancer or alcohol-related, such as respiratory, cardiovascular or hepatic diseases.
"Alcohol is a known carcinogen. This study highlights the risks associated with alcohol consumption, "said Ms. Sarah Cate, Assistant Professor of Breast Surgery at Mount Sinai School of Medicine at MarketWatch. (She did not work on this study.) "It is difficult to extrapolate the exact risk because the study did not examine known risk factors for cancer such as antecedents. family members of cancer and other carcinogens such as external exposure to radiation, "she added. "However, it is important for the public to note the carcinogenic effects of alcohol that are largely underestimated and made public."
So, do not throw your wine in the sewers for the moment.
"The use of cigarettes as a measure of risk is intelligent, but somewhat misleading," said Dr. Larry Norton, deputy chief physician for breast cancer programs at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. "Lung cancer is a much more difficult disease to treat than breast cancer. In addition, even if moderate alcohol consumption was associated with an increased risk of breast cancer, it would not be correct to conclude that alcohol is at the origin of this increased risk. The association is not a causal link … On the other hand, we know for sure that smoking actually causes lung cancer and other serious cancers. So, putting all this together, the assimilation of tobacco to alcohol has real flaws. "
Dr. Theresa Hydes, the corresponding author, explained in a statement: "We wanted to answer the following question: in terms of cancer risk – that is to say, to examine cancer separately from other misdeeds – how many cigarettes Is there in a bottle of wine? Our estimate of a cigarette equivalent of alcohol provides a useful measure for communicating potential cancer risks that exploits successful historical messages about smoking. "
Much research has also linked health benefits to moderate consumption of alcohol (especially red wine), which may explain why many consumers do not trust their carcinogenic status. Studies highlighting antioxidants (such as polyphenols and resveratrol in particular) found in red wine and beneficial to the heart, or studies showing that moderate amounts of alcohol, of all types, can increase Healthy cholesterol and reduce the formation of blood clots assume that their after-work red is good for them. However, a recent article from Harvard Medical School reported that it was hard to isolate red wine as being better for your heart, or maybe the fact that people who drink red wine are more likely to do it as part of a healthy lifestyle, which may have more to do with their heart health than the wine itself.
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But a growing number of research highlights the drawbacks of alcohol consumption. An article in the Lancet last year stated that "the safest level of alcohol consumption is not the case", concluding that even one alcoholic beverage a day slightly increased the risk of health problems, including car accidents, suicides, cirrhosis, cardiovascular diseases and cancers. And drinking too much alcohol increases your risk of liver and pancreas diseases, heart failure, stroke, weight gain and obesity, as well as some cancers. .
For the record, a standard alcoholic beverage in the United States is measured at 12 ounces of beer; 8 to 9 ounces of malt liquor; 5 ounces of wine; and a 1.5 ounce shot of 80 distilled spirits or alcohol proof, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. The American Cancer Society recommends that people who drink alcohol limit their intake to two glasses a day for men and one drink a day to women.
The new report also wanted to be "absolutely clear that this study does not say that drinking alcohol in moderation is equivalent to smoking," because tobacco kills up to two-thirds of its users and is responsible for 80 % of cases. deaths from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). "Our findings relate to lifetime risk in the population," said Hydes. "At the individual level, the risk of cancer represented by tobacco or tobacco consumption will vary and for many people, the impact of 10 units of alcohol (a bottle of wine) or 5 to 10 cigarettes can be very different.
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