Even a small amount of alcohol is now related to a higher risk of cancer

[sl8]

ASCO News Release
ASCO Statement

From https://www.marketwatch.com/story/this-many-drinks-a-week-is-bad-for-your-brain-2017-06-07


Researchers say drinking as little as four pints of strong beer a week is linked to brain decline.

Even a small amount of alcohol is now related to a higher risk of cancer
By Leslie Albrecht and Quentin Fottrell
Published: Nov 19, 2017 11:09 a.m. ET

A new study recommends public education about the risks between alcohol abuse and certain types of cancer

Researchers say drinking as little as four pints of strong beer a week is linked to brain decline.
You might need a drink to drown your sorrows after hearing this one. But that might be a bad idea.

Even light alcohol use is linked with increasing the risk of several leading cancers, including those of the breast, colon, esophagus, and head and neck, according to recent research reviewed by the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

The society cites between 5% and 6% of new cancers and cancer deaths globally as directly linked to alcohol. “People typically don’t associate drinking beer, wine, and hard liquor with increasing their risk of developing cancer in their lifetimes,” Bruce Johnson, the society’s president, said in a statement.

...

More at link.

Note: In my opinion, the Marketwatch title is a little misleading. The title seem to suggest new data linking alcohol and cancer. Reading further, we see that new survey results indicate the need for more public education about the already eastablished link between alcohol and cancer.

[NurseJackie]

1. I'm inclined to continue to take my chances.

[bearsfootball516]

2. Recents studies have shown that actually being alive increases your chance of death, as wel.

[dixiegrrrrl]

16. Also strong correlation between having birthdays and growing older.

So by not having birthdays, you not only stay younger, but also minimize drinking toasts on your b-day, thus...2 birds, one stone.

[dawg]

3. Everything kills you.

And not using it kills you too.

[sl8]

4. Supporting your hypothesis:

Note: I don't think Joe is a medical doctor.

Cancer

Everything
Everything gives you cancer
Everything
Everything gives you cancer
There's no cure, there's no answer
Everything gives you cancer
Don't touch that dial
Don't try to smile
Just take this pill
It's in your file
Don't work hard
Don't play hard
Don't plan for the graveyard
Remember
{Refrain}
Don't work by night
Don't sleep by day
You'll feel all right
But you will pay
No caffeine
No protein
No booze or
Nicotine
Remember
{Refrain}
No caffeine
No protein
No booze or
Nicotine
Remember
{Refrain twice
Songwriters: Joe Jackson
Cancer lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

[ProfessorGAC]

35. A Fave Of Both My Wife and I

Love that whole album. And, he's probably the most skilled piano player in rock history.

[doc03]

5. Eggs were bad now they are good. Butter would kill you now margarine kills you.

Sugar was bad now artificial sweeteners are worse. Back in the 50s cigarettes were actually
advertised as being good. They have been saying a drink or two a day was good for years, now it is bad.
I think they can do a study on anything and find it kills you. We start dying the day we were born, something
kills everyone eventually. I know one person that drank several bottles of Gibson's port every day for years, he may have
had only one brain cell left but he lived to 86.

[cwydro]

7. Dont forget coffee!

That was SO bad, now it’s an antioxidant.

I pay NO attention to this crap. And I eat eggs from my chickens who free range around my house. I eat them daily. ( Not the chickens lol, only the eggs; the chickens are members of the family here) fry them in butter or poach them and eat them on buttered English muffins.

Mom lived to 90, her aunt lived to 99...dad lived to 83...bacon and eggs and coffee and butter...plus gin and tonics, some whiskey here and there. A good time was had by all.

Worry will kill you.

You are spot on!

[doc03]

10. Radiaion from a TV cathode ray tube killed us, what about the flat

screen TVs. We need a study.

[Gabi Hayes]

32. My grandma smoked til she was 70,

Drank every day (1 or 2)

Bacon and eggs every day

Lots and lots of candy every day

Never ever exercised

Listened to Limbaugh every day, which would’ve killed me in very short order

Lost her strong catholic faith

Lived to 109

Her 4 sisters all into their 90s

[cwydro]

34. I love it!

Wasn’t it Jackie Gleason who smoked 5 cigars a day as well as drinking a pint of whisky? Lived to 80 something.

[cwydro]

6. Living is related to cancer.

Lol.

[Wiseman32218]

8. Cow farts cause cancer will be the next study.

Living means some day you will die. I choose to enjoy myself everyday because it may be my last one.

[SweetieD]

9. Being alive is the biggest risk factor for death. It is inevitable.

[SCantiGOP]

30. As Jim Morrison said:

No one gets out of here alive.

[whistler162]

11. DiHydrogen Monoxide a linked

to millions of deaths. BAN DiHydrogen Monoxide!!!!!

[Flaleftist]

15. They put that shit in kids drinks!

It can be found in every fast food restaurant.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

26. Worse yet, anyone who has ever consumed

Di Hydrogen Monoxide in the past has died. Or will eventually die. That stuff needs to be banned!

[Snake Plissken]

12. I've never met anyone who came down with cancer from drinking alcohol, I've never even heard of it.

I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but I'd like a little more data as to how they came to this conclusion.

[dixiegrrrrl]

17. The thing about data is interesting.

My Mom died from lung cancer. She smoked 4 packs a day of unfiltered cigs, drank a lot, which increased after she retired and could sit at home smoking and drinking.
She quit working at age 53.
she died at age 57, in the mid-1980s.

We know now that combining cigs and booze increases chances of cancer, esp. lung cancers.

Her "cause of death" was written as "pneumonia" since technically her lungs drowning is the result of
lung cancer.
anyone looking for causes of death to count in a study of cancer would not find her death.

[RobinA]

24. My Dad

was the opposite. Died at 84 of something cardiovascular. Smoked for probably 64 years about a pack a day. His death was ruled smoking related. Maybe it was and maybe it wasn’t. Not too scientific.

[sl8]

22. From the second link:

ASCO Statement

ALCOHOL AND CANCER

Evidence to Link Alcohol Consumption to Specific Cancers
The relationship between drinking alcohol and cancer risk has been evaluated extensively in epidemiologic case-control and cohort studies. In a thorough systematic review of the world’s evidence that adhered to prespecified criteria for drawing inferences, a World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) report judged the evidence to be convincing that drinking alcohol was a cause of cancers of the oral cavity, pharynx, larynx, esophagus, breast, and colorectum (in men).23 Also, alcohol was judged to be a probable cause of increased risk of liver cancer and colorectal cancer (in women).23 An updated review of the evidence for liver cancer upgraded the conclusion for an association between alcohol drinking and liver cancer to convincing.24 The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC),25 a branch of WHO, has assessed the evidence and come to virtually identical conclusions: that alcohol is a cause of cancers of the oral cavity, pharynx, larynx, esophagus, colorectum, liver (ie, hepatocellular carcinoma), and female breast. For esophageal cancer, the association with alcohol drinking is largely specific to squamous cell carcinoma.25 The more that a person drinks, and the longer the period of time, the greater their risk of development of cancer, especially head and neck cancers.3

A valid question is whether these associations are specific to ethanol per se or whether they vary according to the type of alcoholic beverage (ie, beer, wine, or spirits/liquor). The answer is that the associations between alcohol drinking and cancer risk have been observed consistently regardless of the specific type of alcoholic beverage.25

The full range of cancers for which alcohol drinking represents a risk factor remains to be clarified. For example, the index of suspicion is high that alcohol drinking leads to excess risk of pancreatic cancer25 and gastric cancer.26 For some malignancies, alcohol drinking clearly is statistically associated with increased risk but, because of its strong correlation with other risk factors, it is difficult to discern if alcohol drinking is truly an independent risk factor. For example, alcohol drinking consistently has been statistically strongly associated with increased lung cancer risk.23 However, cigarette smokers also are more likely to be alcohol drinkers, and cigarette smoking is such an overwhelming lung cancer risk factor that confounding by cigarette smoking—rather than a direct association with alcohol drinking—currently cannot be ruled out as a possible explanation.27 As evidence continues to accumulate, the list of alcohol-associated cancers is likely to grow.

...

More at link.

[Vinca]

13. Next week they'll publish a study claiming the exact opposite.

I ignore them all.

[ghostsinthemachine]

14. My cancer (esophageal) is one of the markers

For alcohol use and smoking. Almost every case has those components. I stopped smoking years ago. I drank, drink, but have gone loooooong periods of time where I didn't drink in my life.

I'm also supposed to be black, the third marker for EC. (But I'm not)

I think its a crapshoot. Everything kills ya, just don't know which one will do you in...today.

[shanti]

23. my uncle too

He was a wm, heavy drinker/smoker. First he had a melanoma removed, then he got esophageal cancer, which spread to critical organs. Then he died.

My dad was also a heavy smoker/drinker, but esophageal cancer didn't kill him - lung cancer and copd did. in fact, everyone in my family has died from something different.

[Bucky]

18. Damn. I thought the headline meant only moderate consumption causes cancer

Guess I'm back to the "Well, you gotta die of something" rationale.

[a kennedy]

20. Ha ha, love you Bucky......

and may I ask.....Are you a Wisconsin Badger fan??? Have seen around and have wondered if you are from Wisconsin.

[Bucky]

21. Nope. I'm in Houston

Bucky's short for Buckaroo (vaquero).

But I do love cheese

[EllieBC]

19. I'm pretty certain that waking up every day

increases my chances of getting some sort of disease. I'll still enjoy my beverages thanks.

[LongTomH]

25. It wasn't that long ago that they were recommending a glass of red wine a day!!!!!

Oh, well!!

[bagelsforbreakfast]

27. I guess I could have been Einstein 2! n/m

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

28. The one thing that is irrefutably linked to cancer is cigarettes.

Everything else has such a small connection that you should go ahead and consume alcohol, eat eggs and butter, and so on.

Also, to all who think that cancer is somehow a modern disease, get this: even dinosaurs got cancer. Cancer is simply one of the things that comes along with being alive. Well, not for everyone but for some people.

[chillfactor]

29. I drink wine....

when I am reading..usually into the early morning hours...it is my favorite time of the day...the mountains and neighborhood are quiet...except for the howls of coyotes..and I will be damned....I will NOT give that time up nor give up my wine. At 76 years this is my time to enjoy the little things that life has to offer. .

[ecstatic]

31. I rarely drink, but what happened to the 1 glass a day thing?

These studies seem to be bullshit. They say one thing one week and the exact opposite the next week.

Then again, I've always felt that you should look up the right diet for your specific ancestry (some researchers think blood type is the determining factor). Some people do better as vegetarians, others do better with a light mix of meats and veggies. Some people do better drinking, and some don't. Maybe that's where the massive discrepancies come from?

Just because eating a certain way helps one person, doesn't mean it'll help the next person.

[flamingdem]

33. This is the point: if you have a pre-cancerous condition you should not imbibe much

I think it's the p-53 gene that's in question, at least for some cancers. You want to do ALL you can to help your immune system fight.

So those who don't have such a condition can party, for those with the conditions it's helpful to know it's worth it to abstain.

[ProfessorGAC]

36. While I'm All For Science. . .

. . .given that it's been my career, i find the publication of these things a bit off-putting.

Even if peer reviewed, there is still no way to do a comprehensive enough data set to incorporate all other factors that could lead to cancer in the vast majority of people.

But, they get published and publicized because there are too many people who either think it would be just great if they could live forever, or fear death so much they are looking for any escape clause.

Everybody dies. No exception.

[sl8]

37. ASCO National Cancer Opinion Survey infographic

Based on the findings of the survey referenced in OP.


News release: Most Americans are Unaware
PDF of Survey Results


From https://www.asco.org/research-progress/reports-studies/national-cancer-opinion-survey