January 4, 2012 blog
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.
Cindy Sagon, a staff writer for the AARP bulletin, wrote an article dismissing the increased risk of breast cancer in women who drink.
For those who missed it, the study out of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston showed that women who drink 3-6 drinks per week increased their risk of breast cancer by 15%. Those drinking two or more drinks per day had an increase of 51%.
Cindy belittled these numbers showing that the increase was from 12.0% to 13.8%, a trifling 1.8%, not worth worrying about for a woman who needs her wine to relax in the evening after a hard day at work.
1.8% seems like nothing.
But multiply that by the 100,000 women in the study and you get 1,800 breast cancers that would not have happened without that evening glass of wine. 1.8% seems like a tiny number, unless you are part of it. Then it’s not 1.8%; it is 100%.
Cindy reveals her diminutive knowledge of the subject. She is not aware of the ten additional cancers definitely linked to alcohol consumption. For the record, they are cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus, stomach, colon, rectum, liver, pancreas, prostate, and most recently, lung.
She is probably not aware that although alcohol is not a carcinogen (cancer causing chemical), its first metabolic break down product is acetaldehyde which is a potent carcinogen. Wherever you find acetaldehyde, cancer is not far behind.
She probably knows of the study comparing the French who drank a lot to Americans who drank less. It’s conclusion: the French had less heart disease. Yet, if she had read the study in depth she would have found that though the French died less often from heart disease than the Americans, they had higher death rates from (you guessed it) cancer and suicide.
I am sure she is not aware that alcohol is the number two cause of osteoporosis, another epidemic disease in women.
I doubt that she considered that breast cancer is a killer of young women, women with school-age children and promising careers.
To say that her reassurance to the drinking women of America was ill-advised is a monumental understatement.
I am not opposed to moderate drinking. I am opposed to ignorance regarding its consequences.
jh
