Study: a bottle of wine a week is as bad as smoking 10 cigarettes

Do you drink a glass of wine a few times a week? New research shows that drinking a bottle of wine a week is the same as smoking 5 to 10 cigarettes when it comes to raising the risk of getting cancer.

For women, drinking one bottle of wine each week increased the absolute lifetime risk of cancer to the same level as smoking 10 cigarettes a week, driven largely by a higher risk of breast cancer. For men, drinking a bottle of wine each week increased the absolute lifetime risk of cancer equal to smoking 5 cigarettes.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services lists the consumption of alcohol as a known human carcinogen. It is linked to various cancers including breast, colon, esophageal, and liver cancer. But often times, the risks of alcohol consumption are less obvious and come as a surprise to the public.

“These findings can help communicate that moderate levels of drinking are an important public health risk,” concluded lead author of the study Theresa Hydes, PhD, a hepatology clinical fellow at the University Hospital Southampton, England.

Do you have a strong, often uncontrollable, desire to drink? Or feel an urge to drink when feeling stressed and anxious? Are you feeling more irritable/ tired while becoming intoxicated more frequently? If so, you may have a drinking problem. Dr. Ardyce Yik has seen her share of patients struggling with alcoholism- teenagers, professionals, fathers, mothers… Yes, even mothers! Healthcare professionals and addiction counsellors are seeing an increase in mothers seeking help for alcohol problems. This may be due to the current mommy drinking culture, which is vehemently reinforced by social media and advertising. Seek a trusted doctor if you suspect you have a drinking problem.

Click here to read more about the detrimental effects of alcohol consumption (i.e. How much alcohol is too much?).

SOURCE: https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-019-6576-9