Quote:
Originally Posted by TheSutterDynasty
Maybe you (and others) can help interpret some of the alcohol and cancer correlation research. Some below:
https://monographs.iarc.fr/iarc-mono...-to-humans-25/
I'm a bit skeptical at calling it 'causation' when they only have case-control and cohort studies. The authors justify it because of the quality and volume of these studies, but don't we need RCTs to push it beyond correlation?
As you mentioned, even a small amount carries some risk. I suppose you have to draw the line somewhere.
I think Cliff has a point, though (as facetious as he's seemingly being). When it was first established that smoking is bad the reaction was much similar. It was ingrained in our society to smoke, anything against it was ridiculous. But slowly things changed and here we are.
I wonder about similarities in how the craft beer industry is exploding and what the cigarette industry was like at its peak.
I've definitely thought about my 1-4 weekend beers and my binge drinking every 2 months.
Edit: and what other hints do you need that it's bad for you when you feel like absolute garbage when you do too much of it. |
There are multiple lines of evidence to demonstrate causation - not just the epidemiological studies but animal studies and mechanistic evidence (though that may be limited to people with a particular genetic trait or very heavy drinkers).
Lots of things are confirmed human carcinogens without actually causing cancer in many people though - often the level of exposure has to be really high. The other aspect is that low level exposures to carcinogens in general is not as well understood as high level exposures, and the models used to predict cancer from low level exposures are likely flawed. For many carcinogens, at low levels of exposure most people might not be at risk at all, even though the theoretical models say there is some low level of risk. Still there are some people who have a genetic susceptibility to carcinogenicity to alcohol.
Regardless, the actual chance of getting cancer from 1 drink per day is really low. You also have low chances of getting cancer from lots of other things we do and things we eat, including going outside and living in cities. At the end of the day you can't eliminate all cancer risk (or other types of risk - every time you get in your car you are at risk of dying). What you can do is make decisions that balance very low levels of risk against benefits to you, including enjoyment of life.
Heavy alcohol consumption is a completely different story, where your ability to metabolize alcohol is more likely to be insufficient to prevent risk (not only cancer but other effects) in addition to things like the consequences of drunk driving, which have effects on others.