In my last blog post, I took the New York Times to task for incorrectly suggesting that new research demonstrates a connection between alcohol consumption and the rise of cancer in younger adults. And then just a few days after I wrote that, a patient asked me my thoughts on the health risks of alcohol. So I thought I’d dedicate a post to the topic.
Let’s start with a simple fact: alcohol is toxic to the human body. There is now a lot of research to suggest that even moderate alcohol consumption may play a role in the development of some cancers and in neurological disease. It’s also well established that alcohol consumption is tied to an increased risk for atrial fibrillation, a common type of heart arrhythmia that can increase the risk of having a stroke. And the longstanding belief that moderate alcohol consumption is protective against cardiovascular disease has not held up under closer scrutiny. No, one glass of red wine per night will not cut your risk for a heart attack, and wine consumption is not the reason that countries like France, Italy, and Greece have lower rates of heart disease than we Americans do.
Add to this the long established fact that heavy alcohol consumption is terrible for the body, and substantially increases the risk for liver, cardiac, and brain disease, and we can reasonably conclude that alcohol is bad for humans. Period, full stop. And looked at purely as a substance examined in isolation, this is a correct conclusion. However…
