One Drink a Day Can Cause Cancer?

The FDA claims that to drink in moderation means that a man consumes no more than 2 drinks a day, a woman no more than one. A drink, by definition, means a single 12 ounce beer, 5 ounces of wine (not the whole bottle, y'all), and 1.5 ounces of hard alcohol, which equates to about a single shot. But now alcohol and cancer have a connection? What about all the studies and links to alcohol and heart health being a good thing? What's true? A glass of wine a day keeps the heart disease at bay, or the can of beer gives you cancer in the rear? Here's what I found out.

Doctors argue how healthy alcohol really is, but stick to the whole moderation (or less) rule as a whole. New studies have shown that women who only have a single drink a day and are otherwise healthy up their risks of breast, lung, rectal, throat, esophageal, and liver cancer than those who don't drink. But women over age 40 can drink in moderation because it lowers their risk of heart attack, stroke, and other heart diseases. So, what's the deal with alcohol, then? Is it healthy or not to consume?

It all comes down to gender, age, and overall health of the person and their family history of illness. If a person who is otherwise healthy has heart disease in their family, then a glass of wine (or a beer) a day should pose more benefits than detriment. But if you're healthy all over and don't have heart disease to worry about? Then don't drink at all- you're not adding much benefit to your heart if you're upping your risks of cancer everywhere else.

Doctors suggest to weigh the pros and cons of drinking overall to find out if drinking is healthy for the individual in question. If the person smokes and drinks, then their chances of neck or head cancer increases, so drinking should be prohibited. If a person has a history of breast cancer, liver cancer, or rectal cancer in their family, then drinking should be cut back or eliminated. If cancer doesn't play a role in the family but the person is worried about heart health, then a drink a day or every now and then should be fine. In the end, however, the choice to drink or not to drink is up to the person with the glass in their hand. Whether the heart health benefits of drinking outweigh the cons of drinking, well, that varies from person to person.

Source:

http://www.webmd.com/cancer/features/faq-alcohol-and-your-health