And for women who consume three or more drinks a week, the risk of health damage increases more steeply than men, according to research. These findings are why the Canadian Center on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA), a national counseling organization, recommends that people drink less per week.
“The key message of this project is that when it comes to alcohol, less is better. Everyone should try to reduce alcohol use,” said Catherine Paradis, senior research and policy analyst at CCSA and co-chair of Canada’s Low Risk Alcohol. Drink instructions.
It’s no secret that alcohol isn’t good for you, experts say. It has been classified as a Group 1 carcinogen (carcinogenic to humans) for decades by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.
But not everyone knows that alcohol use has been linked to many health risks, including at least seven types of cancer, Paradis said.
That’s why the guidelines – which the public can weigh in on – talk about the health risks and how they increase with the number of drinks. As alcohol use increases during the COVID-19 pandemic, some health officials say this new report and drinking guidelines can help further highlight the health risks.
“It’s putting the hammer down to say ‘look, watch what you’re doing.’ And hopefully people will pay attention,” said Dr. Fawaad Iqbal, a radiation oncologist at Durham Regional Cancer Center in Oshawa, Ont.
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“People in Canada have a right to know”
However, experts say the risks associated with drinking alcohol need to be made clearer beyond these recommendations. Iqbal and those who worked on the CCSA guidelines want to see cancer warnings and the number of standard drinks listed on bottles or cans of alcohol. “Whether consumers choose to use that information or not is up to them. But there’s a lot of evidence out there that if you say front and center, ‘this is bad for your health and you can get cancer because of it,’” people they will change their decision-making about how much they drink,” Iqbal said. Since the last drinking guidelines were released in 2011, the evidence surrounding health issues and alcohol consumption has changed a lot, says Paradis. That’s why Paradis and his colleagues reviewed dozens of studies on alcohol and health issues as part of the new guidelines. Although all levels of alcohol consumption carry some risks, their report shows a range of risks depending on how many glasses of wine or bottles of beer a person has each week. For example, they found that health risks are negligible or low with two or fewer glasses of wine per week. If the number of drinks increases to somewhere between three and six standard drinks per week, the risk of health problems is moderate. But drinking more than six glasses of wine or cider a week makes the risk of health problems “increasingly higher”. “We know this will come as a surprise and some people might even be upset about it. But we didn’t start this project to win a popularity contest with scientists,” said Paradis. “Our whole perspective on this project is that people in Canada have a right to know.”
Drinking increases the risk of breast cancer
The new findings differ significantly from the 2011 guidelines created by the CCSA. They suggested no more than 10 standard drinks per week for women and 15 standard drinks per week for men.
Paradis says one of the reasons the 2011 recommendations were higher was the belief that alcohol had some good health benefits for cardiovascular disease. But now, new research suggests that may no longer be the case, he said.
“In fact, in our own study, we found that alcohol was neither good nor bad at low levels for protection against certain cardiovascular diseases. At higher levels, it actually has a detrimental impact,” he said.
Alcohol use in Canada causes nearly 7,000 cancer deaths each year in Canada, according to the report.
Beer is pictured on the shelves of a liquor store in Vancouver in a July 12, 2019 file photo. New guidelines say drinking more than six glasses of wine or cider a week makes the risk of health problems “increasingly high.” (Ben Nelms/CBC)
And for women in particular, drinking three or more drinks a week carries a greater risk of health problems compared to men, according to the report. They include several reasons, including differences in metabolism.
Breast cancer risk increased with more alcohol, Paradis said, adding that one in 35 women will die from breast cancer in Canada.
“If you have six drinks a week, you increase your chances of being that woman by 10 percent,” she said, adding that the risk starts at a typical one or two drinks a week.
Allison Garber, a Halifax communications business owner and sobriety advocate, said she wishes she had known more about the increased cancer risk sooner. Both her mother and grandmother had breast cancer and she lost her mother to cancer.
“I think this report will save a lot of lives,” he said, adding that it’s good to see an increased focus on education.
“I think it’s an individual choice whether people drink alcohol or not, but I think it’s fundamentally important that it’s an informed choice.”
Point out the health hazards
Some Canadians have reported increased binge drinking in recent years. ONE Statistics Canada survey released in 2021 shows that many Canadians aren’t just pouring a glass. Almost one in five survey respondents said they consumed five or more drinks – the equivalent of a bottle of wine – on the days they reported drinking in the previous month. The agency says that’s higher than before COVID-19 hit. For women in particular, drinking three or more drinks a week carries a greater risk of health problems compared to men, according to data from the Canadian Center on Substance Use and Addiction report. (Justine Bouln/CBC) The CCSA report started before the pandemic, but Paradis says adults need to learn more about the alcohol they buy and how it can affect their health. Paradis and the report’s other authors, along with Iqbal, say bottles of wine and other alcohol should clearly spell out health warnings and nutritional information. He adds that people should be able to measure their drinks to know how much alcohol they’re consuming, but they can’t unless it’s specifically stated on a label. “The main message we want to send with this is that overall, alcohol is not good for your health and that when it comes to alcohol, it’s best to drink less,” Paradis said. The guidelines will likely become official guidance sometime this fall.
