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Mostly_Harmless
wyrd bið ful aræd



Registered: 05/12/09
Posts: 5,043
Loc: Perfidious Albion
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Alcohol is a direct cause of seven forms of cancer, finds study 3
#23464763 - 07/22/16 01:58 AM (7 years, 6 months ago) |
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https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/jul/22/alcohol-direct-cause-seven-forms-of-cancer-study
Quote:
Friday 22 July 2016
Analysis implicates alcohol in development of breast, liver and other types of cancer and says even moderate consumption is a risk
Alcohol causes seven forms of cancer, and people consuming even low to moderate amounts are at risk, according to new analysis.
Health experts endorsed the findings and said they showed that ministers should initiate more education campaigns in order to tackle widespread public ignorance about how closely alcohol and cancer are connected. The study sparked renewed calls for regular drinkers to be encouraged to take alcohol-free days, and for alcohol packaging to carry warning labels.
Fresh analysis of evidence accumulated over recent years implicates alcohol in the development of breast, colon, liver and other types of cancer.
The study, published in the scientific journal Addiction, concludes that there is more than simply a link or statistical association between alcohol and cancer that could be explained by something else. There is now enough credible evidence to say conclusively that drinking is a direct cause of the disease, according to Jennie Connor, of the preventive and social medicine department at Otago University in New Zealand.
“There is strong evidence that alcohol causes cancer at seven sites in the body and probably others,” Connor said. “Even without complete knowledge of biological mechanisms [of how alcohol causes cancer], the epidemiological evidence can support the judgment that alcohol causes cancer of the oropharynx, larynx, oesophagus, liver, colon, rectum and breast.”
Growing evidence suggested that alcohol was also likely to cause skin, prostate and pancreatic cancer, she added. Emphasising that a drinker’s risk increased in relation to the amount consumed, Connor said: “For all these there is a dose-response relationship.”
Connor arrived at her conclusions after studying reviews undertaken over the past 10 years by the World Cancer Research Fund, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, the World Health Organisation’s cancer body, and other authoritative bodies.
“The highest risks are associated with the heaviest drinking but a considerable burden is experienced by drinkers with low to moderate consumption, due to the distribution of drinking in the population,” Connor said. Campaigns to reduce alcohol consumption should therefore try to encourage everyone to cut down, as targeting only heavy drinkers had “limited potential” to reduce alcohol-related cancer, she added.
In February Prof Dame Sally Davies, the chief medical officer for England, caused a stir by warning women that drinking alcohol could cause breast cancer. She told a parliamentary hearing: “Do as I do when I reach for my glass of wine. Think: do I want the glass of wine or do I want to raise my own risk of breast cancer? I take a decision each time I have a glass.”
In February Prof Dame Sally Davies, the chief medical officer for England, caused a stir by warning women that drinking alcohol could cause breast cancer. She told a parliamentary hearing: “Do as I do when I reach for my glass of wine. Think: do I want the glass of wine or do I want to raise my own risk of breast cancer? I take a decision each time I have a glass.”
Davies played a key role in drawing up new government guidelines on safe drinking limits, published in January, which recommended that men reduce their maximum weekly intake of alcohol from 21 to 14 units, or seven pints of beer a week, which is the longstanding threshold that women are advised not to exceed.
The growing evidence of alcohol’s role in causing cancer, underlined by a report by the UK Committee on Carcinogenicity, was a key reason behind Davies and her counterparts in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland issuing advice that some said was impractical and would be ignored. Sticking to the new guidelines would help keep drinkers’ risk of cancer low, the proponents said.
Dr Jana Witt, Cancer Research UK’s health information officer, said: “We know that nine in 10 people aren’t aware of the link between alcohol and cancer. And this review is a stark reminder that there’s strong evidence linking the two.”
A recent CRUK study found that when people were shown a list of different cancers, only one in five of them knew that breast cancer could be caused by drinking, compared to four out of five people who knew that alcohol could cause liver cancer.
“Having some alcohol-free days each week is a good way to cut down on the amount you’re drinking,” Witt said. “Also, try swapping every other alcoholic drink for a soft drink, choosing smaller servings or less alcoholic versions of drinks, and not keeping a stock of booze at home.”
Alan Boobis, professor of biochemical pharmacology at Imperial College London, said the science showing alcohol’s role in cancer was well established. “The main difficulty is communicating effectively with the public,” he said.
Connor’s study also found that people who smoke and drink are at even greater risk of developing cancer.
More positively, there was some evidence that drinkers who gave up alcohol could reverse their risk of laryngeal, pharyngeal and liver cancer, and that their risk reduced the longer they avoided alcohol, Connor’s research found.
Elaine Hindal, chief executive of Drinkaware, the alcohol industry-funded education charity, agreed that drinking and cancer risk were closely linked.
“Regularly drinking more than the government’s low-risk guidelines puts you at increased risk of some types of cancer, and can also increase your risk of heart and liver disease, strokes and pancreatitis,” she said. “Smoking and drinking together increases your risk of developing throat and mouth cancer more than doing either on their own.”
People drinking more than the recommended limits should cut down in order to safeguard their future health, she added.
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Morel Guy
Stranger


Registered: 01/23/13
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Last seen: 4 years, 1 month
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Re: Alcohol is a direct cause of seven forms of cancer, finds study [Re: Mostly_Harmless]
#23465152 - 07/22/16 07:59 AM (7 years, 6 months ago) |
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I agree with taking alcohol free days.
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Konyap

Registered: 06/30/07
Posts: 33,945
Loc: Planet Piss
Last seen: 4 years, 2 months
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Re: Alcohol is a direct cause of seven forms of cancer, finds study [Re: Morel Guy]
#23465481 - 07/22/16 09:59 AM (7 years, 6 months ago) |
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i take 3-6month breaks I drank a beer at the bar and I didn't even want to stick around longer and drink more it's just a overall negative thing to your health the more you drink unless you weren't going to live long anyway
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nice1returns
I am the Holy Shit



Registered: 09/04/14
Posts: 2,303
Loc: miwuaki
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Re: Alcohol is a direct cause of seven forms of cancer, finds study [Re: Mostly_Harmless] 2
#23465633 - 07/22/16 11:01 AM (7 years, 6 months ago) |
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FFS and my GOVERNMENT pushed this on my society as the only safe alternative... all along we had weed the only true benign drug. Fuck the system
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durian_2008
Cornucopian Eating an Elephant


Registered: 04/02/08
Posts: 16,693
Loc: Raccoon City
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Re: Alcohol is a direct cause of seven forms of cancer, finds study [Re: nice1returns]
#23465844 - 07/22/16 12:13 PM (7 years, 6 months ago) |
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I thought the story was interesting, where the clinic makes it's own wine, to treat alcoholics, as you can never particularly trust the quality of corporate tobacco and alcohol, containing sulfites, glyphosphate, radon, heavy metals...
I doesn't seem realistic, for people to wallow in their own crapulence, or binging might only happen on a celebratory basis, assuming that they can produce these things, independently.
It almost requires someone forcefeeding it to you, to become sickly.
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ReposadoXochipilli
Here, there, inbetween



Registered: 08/30/05
Posts: 7,501
Loc: Sand and sunshine
Last seen: 20 days, 1 hour
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Re: Alcohol is a direct cause of seven forms of cancer, finds study [Re: durian_2008]
#23466431 - 07/22/16 03:25 PM (7 years, 6 months ago) |
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gluttony is a pretty standard bar habit. once you have it in your blood.
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hampiri
Time Traveller



Registered: 04/12/16
Posts: 52
Loc: Essos
Last seen: 7 years, 5 months
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Re: Alcohol is a direct cause of seven forms of cancer, finds study [Re: ReposadoXochipilli]
#23467860 - 07/22/16 11:12 PM (7 years, 6 months ago) |
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I'll take a Cannabis Quencher 200 over a bottle of booze any day.
-------------------- "Trust the fungus..." -Mario Legend:TakenNever againWant to take
LSD DMT 2C-I Mescaline Bufotenin Psilocin Psilocybin 5-Hydroxypsilocin 5-Hydroxypsilocybin 25I-NBOMe LSZ ETH-LAD DET Ethocin Ethocybin
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Ythan
ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ


Registered: 08/08/97
Posts: 18,774
Loc: NY/MA/VT Borderlands
Last seen: 4 minutes, 46 seconds
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Re: Alcohol is a direct cause of seven forms of cancer, finds study [Re: hampiri] 1
#23469819 - 07/23/16 04:10 PM (7 years, 6 months ago) |
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That time a bunch of journalists confused an opinion piece for a study Pile of neglected research gets passed off as new data by reporters. arstechnica.com
Drinking alcohol ups your risk of cancer—several kinds of cancer, in fact. The links have been firmly established and reaffirmed over the years with stacks of studies, reviews, and meta-analyses. The National Cancer Institute has had an explainer on the subject since at least 2013.
Yet, the connection remains relatively unknown to consumers.
“We know that nine in 10 people aren’t aware of the link between alcohol and cancer,” Jana Witt, Cancer Research UK’s health information officer, told The Guardian. And the few that are aware of the link may be skeptical of it based on misleading health stories and competing reports on the potential benefits of drinking.
This confusion, ignorance, and skepticism frustrated Jennie Connor, a preventive and social medicine expert at Otago University in New Zealand. So, she tried to clear up the public health facts with an opinion piece published Thursday in the journal Addiction, under the section “For Debate.” Her piece offered the declarative perspective that alcohol causes cancer.
But, it seems the message got even more muddled.
Dozens of news headlines and reports blared that her new “study” found that alcohol causes cancer, suggesting not only that her conclusion was new, but that Connor herself had reported fresh, objective data and/or analysis supporting the finding—neither of which is true. One report even called her opinion piece a meta-analysis, others suggested that Connor had multiplied, referring to her as “researchers.”
While these errors may appear minor to some, confusing an opinion piece with research is likely to seem disturbing, if not egregious, to those in the scientific community. After all, scientific endeavor is rooted in empiricism and objectivity. And that’s not to mention the problem of potentially passing off years of research as one person’s conclusion, arrived at in a brisk seven-page article with zero data or analyses.
In her opinion piece, Conner quickly outlines the established link between drinking alcohol and several types of cancers, namely those of the "oropharynx, larynx, esophagus, liver, colon, rectum, and female breast." The increase in relative risks of getting these cancers varies depending on how much alcohol a person drinks—the more alcohol, the higher the risk, generally—plus that person’s genetics. In many cases, however, the absolute risks are still small. She also briefly references studies that suggest that alcohol may contribute to cancers of the pancreas, prostate, and skin.
Conner argues that the studies that found links and correlations between drinking and cancer—studies that largely involve observations about populations or groups of people—can be enough to make a judgment on causation. Scientists can safely make such judgments if the studies have features such as “strength, consistency, specificity, temporality, biological gradient, plausibility, coherence, experimental evidence, and analogy,” she reasons. After weighing all the studies on alcohol’s association with cancer, Conner believes that causation is clear.
She goes on, however, to knock back links suggesting that drinking may lower a person's risks of cardiovascular disease (CVD), noting that people who drink moderately also tend to have other lifestyle factors that lower their disease risk. Or, put another way, she noted that “in a large US survey in 2005, 27 of 30 CVD risk factors were shown to be more prevalent in abstainers than moderate drinkers.”
While Connor’s “study” is in fact a well-referenced opinion piece, other researchers say she’s on the right path. Alan Boobis, professor of biochemical pharmacology at Imperial College London, told The Guardian that alcohol’s role in cancer has been well established. “The main difficulty,” he explained “is communicating effectively with the public.”
Here's hoping that, in future, scientists like Dr. Boobis will be taken more seriously.
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Moonshoe
Blue Mantis


Registered: 05/28/04
Posts: 27,202
Loc: Iceland
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Re: Alcohol is a direct cause of seven forms of cancer, finds study [Re: Mostly_Harmless]
#23471372 - 07/24/16 04:23 AM (7 years, 6 months ago) |
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I will be cutting down or quitting alcohol because of this.
However, when it says "alternate alcholic drinks with soft drinks" this is stupid. Sugar causes cancer and diabetes and increases the risk of just about every other illness as well.
Alternate alcohol with WATER , not pop, please.
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Everything I post is fiction.
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durian_2008
Cornucopian Eating an Elephant


Registered: 04/02/08
Posts: 16,693
Loc: Raccoon City
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Re: Alcohol is a direct cause of seven forms of cancer, finds study [Re: Moonshoe]
#23472291 - 07/24/16 12:53 PM (7 years, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
ReposadoXochipilli said: gluttony is a pretty standard bar habit. once you have it in your blood.
I thought this was a good figure of speech, because it makes me imagine the morbidly-obese person, who has to get food deliveries.
I know some drunks, who have to borrow money, or ask for booze, to stay out of withdrawals. A house, car, and profitable business have been lost to it. One person will try to sell you his shitty watch, outside of the liquor store.
Unless money is no object, and you have plenty of enablers, nature imposes limits on gluttony, so it gets harder and harder.
I don't think most people can do it, without help.
Quote:
Moonshoe said: Alternate alcohol with WATER , not pop, please.

Take the same amount of money you would spend on a case of corporate soda, and buy a couple of bottles of something gourmet. Applies to pastries and deserts.
Also, washing your hands, walking on the ground, and reading this post causes cancer. Do these things with dignity and extreme moderation.
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