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Does drinking a bottle of wine really mean smoking 10 cigarettes?
That's if you are a woman. This is at least what researchers conclude from the University of Southampton, UK, in an article published in the journal BMC Public Health.
The authors of the study claim to have calculated the increased absolute risk of alcohol-related cancers badociated with a bottle of wine a week and compared with the increased absolute risk of cancer badociated with a habit of consume 10 cigarettes a week.
Men are doing a little better. For them, a bottle of wine equals five cigarettes.
Using data collected by Cancer Research UK, the team calculated the increased cancer risk badociated with a bottle of wine a week for non-smokers. For women, this increase was 1.4%. For men, the figure is 1%. Breast cancer appears to pose a particular risk for women who drink alcohol, while alcohol consumption is linked to cancers of the liver and gastrointestinal tract in men.
Although no one argues that excessive consumption of alcohol is good for you, the study has some important limitations.
David Spiegelhalter, Winton professor for public understanding of risk at the University of Cambridge, who did not participate in the study, points out that the overall impact of moderate consumption on health "is still disputed".
At the same time, John Britton, director of the UK Center for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies at the University of Nottingham, explains: know smokers expose themselves to a range of other serious ailments do not studied – for example, cardiovascular diseases.
"I'm not sure this study adds a lot of utility," he added.
Jane Green, co-director of the Cancer Epidemiology Unit at Oxford University, says that everything is a matter of "context". After all, about 1% may not seem so surprising if you consider that the lifetime risk for men and women in the UK already rises to 50%.
"An average British drinker reported drinking the equivalent of about a bottle and a half of wine a week, and an average smoker smokes about 10 cigarettes a day, or 70 a week," she explained. .
"This work confirms that for most smokers, their smoking carries much greater cancer risk than alcohol for most drinkers."
Nevertheless, the study presents some important points to remember.
"It is likely that the results of this simple study will have a profound impact on how drinkers, and especially women, take into account the risks badociated with alcohol consumption," said Bob Patton, master in Clinical Psychology at the University of Surrey. , pointing out that the risks increase disproportionately for heavy drinkers: three bottles a week, eight cigarettes a week for men, but 23 cigarettes a week for women.
"Consuming alcohol at the same angle as a cigarette could result in decreased consumption and harmful effects."
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