1. Every year, 800,000 people get cancer because of drinking. Alcohol is definitely a carcinogen.
The World Health Organization has already listed alcohol as a first-class carcinogen. The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) also issued an official statement listing the data that alcohol is a carcinogenic factor.
Studies show that 5.5% of cancers and 5.8% of cancer deaths in the world are caused by alcohol, which means that one in every 18 cancers is drunk. There are nearly 800,000 cancer patients in the world every year because of drinking!
Drinking alcohol is directly related to common breast cancer, colorectal cancer, liver cancer, esophageal cancer, gastric cancer and pancreatic cancer. Of course, the types of cancer that are most closely related to alcohol come from the tissues that will be in direct contact with drinking: oral cancer, laryngeal cancer, esophageal cancer and so on. According to the latest data in the United States, 4 1% oral cancer and 2 1% esophageal cancer are all related to drinking.
Second, there are several points worthy of special emphasis:
1: Alcohol seems to bring more risks to women than men, so women should not drink alcohol in particular. In the United States, 16.4% of female breast cancer is caused by drinking.
2. No matter red wine, beer or liquor, as long as it contains alcohol, there is a cancer risk. This study did not find that the cancer risk of red wine is any different from that of other wines. This year, after analyzing the data of more than 6.5438+0.2 million women, we found that even if we only drink a small glass of wine every day, the probability of women suffering from breast cancer will increase significantly.
3. People in poor health and patients, especially cancer patients, should not drink alcohol. It is found that patients who drink too much have longer hospital stay, more operations, slower recovery, higher medical expenses and higher mortality. During the treatment, alcohol may reduce the efficacy of chemotherapy drugs and targeted drugs, and may also increase the side effects of radiotherapy. Continued drinking after treatment can also lead to a higher risk of secondary cancer.
4: Abstinence is useful! After 20 years of abstinence, the risk of oral cancer, throat cancer and esophageal cancer is similar to that of people who never drink alcohol. It's very similar to quitting smoking.
5. As the saying goes, alcohol and tobacco are not separated. If you smoke while drinking, the incidence of cancer will further increase.
Third, how much wine is safe to drink?
Just now, studies have found that even a small amount of alcohol will increase the risk of cancer, especially for women. Therefore, the best choice is not to drink at all. If you don't drink, you'd better not start.
But I personally don't object to drinking occasionally, just as I don't object to eating junk food occasionally. First, it is unrealistic for everyone to give up drinking completely; Secondly, a small amount of drinking is less risky.
The most dangerous thing is long-term heavy drinking. There is a positive correlation between alcohol consumption and cancer risk. The more you drink, the longer you drink, and the higher the probability of getting cancer.
If you have to take two sips, how much wine is relatively "safe"?
The official recommended amount in the United States is: no more than one drink per day for women and no more than two drinks per day for men. I just said that women are more dangerous than men and should drink less.
What is the concept of alcohol?
It is about 18 ml (14 g).
Different wines have different alcohol contents. Converted, beer is about 350 ml, wine is about 150 ml, and 50% liquor is 35 ml.
Therefore, women drink a glass of red wine at most a day. Men are 70 ml of white wine at most, probably just one or two.
Fourth, how does alcohol cause cancer?
This question looks simple, but not many people actually know the answer.
In fact, alcohol itself is not a carcinogen and will not cause genetic mutation. The real danger is its metabolite in the body: acetaldehyde.
After alcohol (ethanol) enters the body, it is metabolized into acetaldehyde by alcohol dehydrogenase, and then into acetic acid by acetaldehyde dehydrogenase, which is excreted.
Both ethanol and acetic acid are relatively safe. But acetaldehyde in the middle is a definite carcinogen, because it can directly combine with DNA and induce gene mutation. The World Health Organization lists acetaldehyde as a first-class carcinogen!
5. Why do people in China drink alcohol more easily to cause cancer? Because many people in China have genetic defects in alcohol metabolism.
Anyone who has lived abroad will find a strange phenomenon: foreigners don't blush like China people after drinking. Being drunk, sorry, is actually a characteristic of China (East Asians).
The root cause of blushing is that China people carry more mutant acetaldehyde dehydrogenase genes, which leads to the inability to effectively degrade acetaldehyde. After acetaldehyde accumulates in the body, it will cause blood vessels to dilate, which looks like blushing and swelling, so-called upper face.
Therefore, people who blush after drinking alcohol have higher acetaldehyde content and are more likely to cause cancer. Many people in China are like this.
According to the statistics of East Asian population, people with acetaldehyde dehydrogenase gene deletion are more likely to get cancer after drinking.
So, if you blush after drinking like me, it means the risk is higher. Be sure to drink less, because the gene is really not strong!
6. How about drinking a little red wine?
There is a saying in the society that a small amount of drinking, especially red wine, is good for your health.
Is that really the case? Not very reliable.
It is unreliable because the research is contradictory. There are indeed some reports in the early days that drinking a small amount of red wine can reduce the incidence and even mortality of cardiovascular diseases. However, recent larger-scale experiments have not confirmed this conclusion. On the contrary, there is evidence that people who don't drink at all are actually less likely to suffer from coronary heart disease and stroke than those who drink a little.
On the other hand, many theories that wine is very good focus on antioxidants such as resveratrol, anthocyanins and tannins, but in fact, simple calculations show that the content of these substances in wine is very low and it is impossible to produce magical effects.
Therefore, even if a small amount of long-term drinking is really good for the cardiovascular system, it must be seriously overestimated and exaggerated.
Seven, "a small amount of drinking is good" has long been popular because it is a marketing tool for wine merchants and an excuse for alcoholics to drink.
Because people in China generally lack acetaldehyde dehydrogenase, drinking alcohol has a higher risk of cancer, so even though drinking alcohol may be beneficial to the cardiovascular system, it cannot offset the clear disadvantage of increasing the risk of cancer.
For China people, especially women, the best choice is not to drink.