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How Much Alcohol Does It Take To Increase Cancer Risk?

Plus: over 50? Do these 3 stretches every morning to avoid pain

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The 10almonds Team
October 02, 2024

Today’s almonds have been activated by:

Top tip: you can tell when potato chips are healthier, because the bag is matte instead of glossy.

Wait, no, you can’t. But this is a reminder to not fall for aesthetics-based packaging ploys with regard to what is healthy!

In A Rush?

Today’s 30-Second Summary

If you don’t have time to read the whole email today, here are some key takeaways:

  • Alcohol is bad for pretty much all aspects of health, but according to a recent report, more than half of Americans do not know that it increases cancer risk.

    • Today’s main feature examines what difference it makes to what cancers, why it makes the difference it does, and how much one can get away with before it increases cancer risk.

  • At 10almonds, we know our readers love free things, and convenience.

    • Today’s sponsor, Brad’s Deals, is a free service that offers many price reductions when shopping on Amazon. Check it out; you can thank us later!

  • Today’s featured recipe is a Thai green curry with crispy tofu balls, including a wide range of mostly plants, offering an even wider range of phytochemical benefits!

Read on to learn more about these things, or click here to visit our archive

A Word To The Wise

Wegovy vs Ozempic

Considering taking Wegovy to lose weight? Here are the risks and benefits—and how it differs from Ozempic:

Watch and Learn

Over 50? Do These 3 Stretches Every Morning To Avoid Pain

Will Harlow, over-50s specialist physio, recommends these three stretches be done daily for cumulative benefits over time:

Prefer text? The above video will take you to a 10almonds page with a text-overview, as well as the video!

Wildcard Wednesday

How Much Alcohol Does It Take To Increase Cancer Risk?

Alcohol is, of course, unhealthy. Not even the famous “small glass of red” is recommended:

Alcohol also increases all-cause mortality at any dose (even “low-risk drinking”):

…and the World Health Organization has declared that the only safe amount of alcohol is zero:

But what of alcohol and cancer? According to the American Association of Cancer Research’s latest report, more than half of Americans do not know that alcohol increases the risk of cancer:

Why/how does alcohol increase the risk of cancer?

There’s an obvious aspect and a less obvious but very important aspect:

  • The obvious: alcohol damages almost every system in the body, and so it’s little surprise if that includes systems whose job it is to keep us safe from cancer.

  • The less obvious: alcohol is largely metabolized by certain enzymes that have an impact on DNA repair, such as alcohol dehydrogenases and aldehyde dehydrogenases, amongst others, and noteworthily, acetaldehyde (the main metabolite of alcohol) is itself genotoxic.

Read more: Alcohol & Cancer

This is important, because it means alcohol also increases the risk of cancers other than the obvious head/neck, laryngeal, esophageal, liver, and colorectal cancers.

However, those cancers are of course the most well-represented of alcohol-related cancers, along with breast cancer (this has to do with alcohol’s effect on estrogen metabolism).

If you’re curious about the numbers, and the changes in risk if one reduces/quits/reprises drinking:

❝The increased alcohol-related cancer incidence was associated with dose; those who changed from nondrinking to mild (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 1.03; 95% CI, 1.00-1.06), moderate (aHR, 1.10; 95% CI, 1.02-1.18), or heavy (aHR, 1.34; 95% CI, 1.23-1.45) drinking levels had an associated higher risk than those who did not drink.

Those with mild drinking levels who quit drinking had a lower risk of alcohol-related cancer (aHR, 0.96; 95% CI, 0.92-0.99) than those who sustained their drinking levels.

Those with moderate (aHR, 1.07; 95% CI, 1.03-1.12) or heavy (aHR, 1.07; 95% CI, 1.02-1.12) drinking levels who quit drinking had a higher all cancer incidence than those who sustained their levels, but when quitting was sustained, this increase in risk disappeared.

Results of this study showed that increased alcohol consumption was associated with higher risks for alcohol-related and all cancers, whereas sustained quitting and reduced drinking were associated with lower risks of alcohol-related and all cancers.

Alcohol cessation and reduction should be reinforced for the prevention of cancer.❞

Worried it’s too late?

If you’re reading this (and thus, evidently, still alive), it isn’t. It’s never too late (nor too early) to reduce, or ideally stop, drinking. Even if you already have cancer, drinking more alcohol will only exacerbate things, and abstaining from alcohol will improve your chances of recovery.

For a reassuring timeline of recovery from alcohol-related damage, see:

Want to stop, but have tried before and find it daunting?

There are a few ways to make it a lot easier:

Take care!

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This Or That?

Vote on Which is Healthier

Yesterday we asked you to choose between asparagus and edamame—we picked the edamame (click here to read about why), as did 45% of you!

Now for today’s choice:

Click on whichever you think is better for you!

Bonus (Sponsored) Recommendation

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Recipes Worth Sharing

Thai Green Curry With Crispy Tofu Balls

Diversity is key here, with a wide range of mostly plants, offering an even wider range of phytochemical benefits:

Click below for our full recipe, and learn its secrets:

One-Minute Book Review

The Power Foods Diet: The Breakthrough Plan That Traps, Tames, and Burns Calories for Easy and Permanent Weight Loss – by Dr. Neal Barnard

First, what this is not: it’s not a cookbook. There are recipes, more than a hundred if we consider such things as “barbecue sauce” as a standalone recipe, and if we overlook such things as how “perfect hot oatmeal” is followed on the next page by a recipe for “perfect hot oatmeal with berries”.

However, as we say, it’s not a cookbook; it’s first and foremost an educational text on the topic of nutrition.

Here we will learn about good eating for general health, which foods are natural appetite-suppressants, which foods reduce our body’s absorption of sugars from foods (not merely slowing, but flushing them away so they cannot be absorbed at all), and which foods actually boost metabolism for a few hours after the meal.

Dr. Barnard also talks about some foods that are more healthy, or less healthy, than popularly believed, and how to use all this information to craft a good, optimized, dietary plan for you.

Bottom line: there’s a lot of good information here, and the recipes are simply a bonus.

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Wishing you a wonderful Wednesday full of wellness,

The 10almonds Team