Alcohol, and surgeon general recommendations. Let's talk about it here.
What are your feelings about this and how does it affect you?
On January 3, the surgeon general released an advisory on alcohol use and cancer risk, noting that alcohol use contributes to 100,000 cancer cases and 20,000 cancer deaths in the U.S. each year. The cancers known to be affected by alcohol are mouth, throat, voice box, esophagus, breast, liver, and colon and rectum.
Comments
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Well, it's been known for a while that your risk of multiple diseases is higher in those that drink, however it's still legal. It is still my choice if I want to drink. I like my wine. I want to live my life. I remember a topic being posted here with all that we go through trying to keep clean lifestyles. It was called something like "Is this chocolate cake going to kill me?"
While I appreciate the warnings and the research connecting the two, imho it's still a crap shoot.
I have just been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, and they want me to start metformin. I picked it up and was reading up on it and the first thing mentioned is that if you use alcohol to alert your physician. I've always been honest with the amount I drink in a week. I am going to quit for a bit (soon-net yet) and then start this med in hopes of not having any side effects. With any luck, I won't have any and can possibly resume a glass a wine or two in the future. I mean, it is playoff football season after all!!! Go Birds!
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I have a glass of wine only on very special occasions, and enjoy mocktails or non-alcoholic beer while I'm out, so I take the warning somewhat seriously. I avoid any preventable stress on my liver. But my sense is that the concern is based on correlation rather than causation. Furthermore, it seems strange to have health warnings on wine, which is an important part of many long-standing religious rituals. Sorry, Jesus, but the surgeon general says don't drink!
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So many health warnings are bad for our health! It feels like we're headed for a new round of prohibition and puritanism. I very seldom drink, a glass or two of wine during the holidays, a Margarita on my birthday, and maybe a few other drinks throughout the year, but not that i can think of - I go several months between a drink. I get mighty annoyed when NPR, for instance, has yammered on about "Dry January" in endless FB postings, and now this. Excessive ANYTHING is bad for us, for crying out loud. Broccoli will probably kill you if you eat enormous amounts every day. I get the feeling most other countries are laughing their asses off at us. People in many European countries drink MODERATELY all the time, but I haven't seen any statistics showing significantly higher cancer rates there. You know who doesn't drink? People with no rights who live in horrible places controlled by fanatical dictators, that's who.
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^^^ THIS.
I rarely drink but if I want a drink I’ll have one. I’m so tired of health warnings that it is almost to a point that I ignore them. I tune out my PCP when she goes through her annual list of do’s and don’ts - all from a doctor who I told in May 2023 that I needed a referral to a gynecological oncologist because I had a genetic mutation that increased my risk of BC and ovarian cancer. I told her my #1 health concern was the risk of ovarian cancer. She blew me off. Ten months later I was diagnosed with high grade serous ovarian cancer. PCP told me she was shocked!Perhaps the $$$ spent on these research studies could be better used to find a cure for BC. Is this study establishing causation or correlation? I’m 67 so eventually I’m gonna die (we all are), if not from cancer then from something else - perhaps old age.
Mods - I do appreciate that you take the time and effort to post updated topics. I don’t want you to think that I’m shooting the messenger. It’s just been a rough couple of weeks.
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I used to have a glass of wine here and there but since my C diagnosis, I stopped cold turkey. It is been almost 5.5 years and I feel so much better and guilt-free. It is the only life adjustment I made since my diagnosis. I was in Italy during the summer, not the first time since I have many friends living there. I was paying attention this time. Yes, Italians drink wine with their main meal but the glasses are so small that the wine is not concentrated like the one they sell in USA or Canada. It has less alcohol.
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I appreciate the time and efforts researchers spend looking at factors that can correlate to help or hinder healing or prevention. It takes decades of clinical trials to ascertain , so much we don’t know. And as much as we wish for it.. a if only I stop this I’ll be fine, or if I only start this I’ll be fine lol…just not realistic. There are those who drink what they like and eat what they like and do not get cancer or other sicknesses, and then there is a proportion of the population that do. So I appreciate the warnings and take them seriously as well.
With my recurrence , I have switched to a plant based diet and alcohol free. I drank wine with dinner every night before, what I thought was moderately, and 2 years later do not miss it anymore. Though it took awhile lol. The occasional special occasion drink for the taste now. For me, I would rather not shorten my life , I know I will die eventually, but ideally not speeding it along from unhealthy habits that are preventable, or more importantly for me, loose my present moment awareness of joy by drinking my emotions to stop thinking or feeling. It can be tempting though!I feel great and live happily, knowing I have stage 3/4 cancer, my body is active and my mind at peace. So drinking , and with the know.edge of this new warning offers us a choice, not an edict in my view. And given the statistics moderate adaption seems to be the call to make. It’s all in the mind .. perception of what is a small joy and we decide. It’s hard to be told and now this is not good for you, but such is human life!
So a toast.. to making choices that bring joy, and adjusting once again to science in our best interest. It’s a do it yourself program at the end of the day.0
