Warning: Drinking Alcohol is Harmful to Your Health

Sometimes we hear what we want to hear. So we latch onto information that tells us that red wine is good for the heart or that alcohol is okay in moderation. But for greater health and longevity the safest choice is to not drink alcohol at all. Here’s why.

Just a few drinks a week can increase breast cancer risk.

Women who drink three to six alcoholic drinks a week were found to have a 15 percent increase in breast cancer risk compared to non-drinkers. The Nurses’ Health Study found that even drinking less than one alcoholic drink per day may be associated with a modest increase in risk of breast cancer.¹ In those already diagnosed with breast cancer, three to four drinks weekly is associated with higher rates of disease recurrence.² For breast cancer, it is thought that alcohol may raise the levels of estrogen in the body, a hormone that has been linked to the disease, and the activity of insulin-like growth factor receptors, which can stimulate mammary cell proliferation.

Alcohol is a carcinogen.

After declaring alcohol a carcinogen in 1988, the International Agency for Research on Cancer went further in 2014 and concluded that there is no safe amount of alcohol when it comes to cancer risk.³ In addition to breast cancer, alcohol consumption also elevates your risk for other cancers. A 2016 review article noted that the evidence is strong that alcohol causes cancer at seven sites:  the mouth/pharynx, larynx, esophagus, colon, rectum, breast, and liver.⁴ Scientists think that acetaldehyde, a compound formed during the digestion of alcohol, may be responsible for the development of these types of cancers. Plus alcoholic beverages also contain other carcinogenic substances, such as arsenic, benzene, cadmium, formaldehyde, lead, ethyl carbamate, acrylamide, and aflatoxins.³

Alcohol isn’t heart-healthy.

The link between alcohol and a reduced risk for coronary heart disease is thought to be due primarily to the fact that alcohol interferes with blood clotting.⁵ This effect is valuable only in a person who consumes a dangerous, heart-disease promoting diet. For someone who eats a healthful diet, rich in unrefined plant foods, there will already be a high level of protection against heart disease, so thinning the blood with alcohol may have detrimental effects, including risk of hemorrhagic stroke.⁶  Heavy drinking—consuming three or more drinks a day -- is dangerous and is associated with cardiomyopathy, hypertension, and potentially life-threatening arrhythmias.^{7, 8}  

The more you drink, the greater the harm. But even light drinking may be risky.

Most people are under the impression that light, or social, drinking is harmless. But in a meta-analysis of 222 studies comprising 92,000 light drinkers and 60,000 non-drinkers with cancer, it was estimated that light drinking could be attributable to 5,000 deaths each from oropharyngeal cancer and breast cancer, and 24,000 from esophageal squamous cell carcinoma in 2004 worldwide. The evidence suggests that the relationship between alcohol consumption and cancer is dose-dependent; light drinking increases cancer risk, and heavy drinking escalates that risk.⁹

The red wine theory

Red wine contains a widely studied beneficial compound from grape skins called resveratrol. This compound has been shown to have several anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects that may contribute to cardiovascular protection.¹⁰ However, at this point, we don’t know whether resveratrol in red wine contributes additional protection beyond the blood-thinning effects of alcohol,⁵ and it is unlikely the resveratrol benefit would outweigh the carcinogenic risk of the alcohol. Since grapes, raisins, blueberries, cranberries, peanuts and other plant foods also contain resveratrol, it is not necessary to drink wine to obtain the benefits of resveratrol. As always, you will gain more health benefits from a Nutritarian diet than you will from an occasional glass of red wine.

A Nutritarian diet is a high nutrient, plant-rich diet designed to fend off heart disease and cancer. Excellent nutrition trumps genetics and a Nutritarian diet puts you in control of your health desntiny.

1. Chen WY, Rosner B, Hankinson SE, et al: Moderate alcohol consumption during adult life, drinking patterns, and breast cancer risk. JAMA 2011, 306:1884-1890.
2. Kwan ML, Kushi LH, Weltzien E, et al: Alcohol consumption and breast cancer recurrence and survival among women with early-stage breast cancer: the life after cancer epidemiology study. J Clin Oncol 2010, 28:4410-4416.
3. Stokowski LA: No Amount of Alcohol is Safe. In Medscape Cardiology; 2014.
4. Connor J: Alcohol consumption as a cause of cancer. Addiction 2016.
5. Saremi A, Arora R: The cardiovascular implications of alcohol and red wine. Am J Ther 2008, 15:265-277.
6. Daniel S, Bereczki D: Alcohol as a risk factor for hemorrhagic stroke. Ideggyogy Sz 2004, 57:247-256.
7. Klatsky AL: Alcohol and cardiovascular health. Physiol Behav 2010, 100:76-81.
8. George A, Figueredo VM: Alcohol and arrhythmias: a comprehensive review. J Cardiovasc Med (Hagerstown) 2010, 11:221-228.
9. Bagnardi V, Rota M, Botteri E, et al: Alcohol consumption and site-specific cancer risk: a comprehensive dose-response meta-analysis. Br J Cancer 2015, 112:580-593.
10. Higdon J: Resveratrol. In An Evidence-Based Approach to Dietary Phytochemicals. 2006