Today, it's being reported on BBC teletext that 10% of cancers in men and 3% of cancers in women are caused by the consumption of alcohol. This is, apparently, the conclusion of a Europe-wide study and is reported in the BMJ, and it's also reported that there is a substantially increased risk from drinking as little as one pint of beer a day.
Listening to 2 eminent doctors on the radio this morning, it is clear that the truth is rather different to the reports. I haven't read the BMJ article but then very few people will; those who take any notice will rely on the various reports in the media and seem to be in serious danger of being mislead, if not of succumbing to cancer.
Both of the doctors involved in the early morning discussion, Karol Sikora and Ian Gilmore, were clearly anti-drinking, but they also made it very clear that while alcohol may be associated with as many incidences of cancer as reported, it probably DID NOT directly cause many of them. The suggestion was that the risk was raised by alcohol consumption and risk is an interesting concept; if my innate risk is 1-in-1000, and my friend's is 1-in-100, alcohol may raise the risk for both of us but he's still 10 times more likely to suffer than I due to innate factors over which neither of us has any real control.
The truth, as stated by Professor Sikora, appears to be that those who drink heavily tend to have generally unhealthy lifestyles - poor diet, inadequate exercise etc.- and the increased risks from drinking alcohol are associated just as much with these lifestyles as with the alcohol itself. To me, the BBC's report is a potentially disingenuous use of a scientific study, aimed at promoting a particular point of view that is not fully supported by the facts. The 'pinkoes' and 'do-gooders' at the dear old Beeb are at it again.
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