About a year ago (6 September 2018, to be precise), I posted a long piece about alcohol and our health.  Because a few articles had just came out declaring how dangerous alcohol was.  Yes, after years of reading that a glass or two was a  health promoting evening ritual, this “change of heart” was being promoted.

I explained to you how poorly the data analysis was effected in those studies.  At the time, I didn’t say that the research may have been done to promote a conclusion folks reached BEFORE they had any data to support such thoughts.  (Nowadays, we just call that TheDonald’s tweets.)

I did recommend that, until more data was produced, it would be wise to limit our alcohol consumption to 100 g a week.  Or, about a glass of wine a night.  (I know- this is clearly an example of do as I say and not as I do.  But, I owe you the best information- and am more than willing to explain why I am willing to deviate from that for myself.)

Well, now there is a new study by Drs. Fotios Drenos, Nathan Ingold, and Hasnat Amin, one  that is about to be published.  Instead of using (TERRIBLE) correlations that were effected for those past three or four studies, this study (these three folks are all at Brunel University in London) include gene identification, so as to remove lifestyle influences (like all the smoking that was correlated with heavier drinking in those other studies).  Or, from accidents that lead to injuries and/or deaths.

What gene variant?  A liver enzyme that has folks feeling dizzy or sick after consuming even minute amounts of alcohol.  We humans can have no such variant, one, or two- and those with the higher number of variants tend to drink less than the rest of us.

(Oh, you WANT the science, do you?  The enzyme is called alcohol dehydrogenase 1B (ADH1B), variant 3.   Normally, this enzyme modulates the conversion of alcohol into acetaldehyde.  But, a single nucleotide switch renders this enzyme able to produce even more acetaldehyde than normal- and those with the variant experience negative reactions to alcohol consumption, because of excess acetaldehyde.)

Using the large UK cohort study  (Biobank, which includes about 500,000 subjects), the researchers uncovered some interesting findings.  The average consumption of red wine among the 348,369 who were initially included in the analysis was 3.9 glasses per week.  (The study also claims that a bottle of red wine averages 6 glasses, so we are talking about 500 ml of red wine a week.) Folks who were advised by their physicians to curtail alcohol consumption or had restricted consumption due to illness were not included among the study participants.

The presence of the gene variant had already been  ascertained in 488,363 of the subjects; 333,774 of them were included in this data analysis.  This was further culled down to 322,193 individuals from the Biobank cohort study.  Of these, 28% (about a quarter) never imbibed alcohol, 1/3 (38%) consumed at or below the recommended threshold (14 units), and 1/3 (34% exceeded this threshold.

Yeah, I was confused, too.  What the heck is a “unit” of wine.  (Leave it to the British to use different terminology.)

So, it turns out that a unit of wine is 10 ml of pure alcohol.  Which means 14 units of alcohol is equivalent to 7 pints of lager or 7 glasses of average strength wine (12% alcohol, where the glass size is 175 ml).

Women who had a low level of this enzyme drank more than those who had higher levels of the enzyme.  And, (not) surprisingly (to me), the women with lower enzyme levels has no correlation between the likelihood of any breast cancer or digestive system tumors up to 14 units a week.  (Note:  Only tumors of the mouth, throat, and the rest of the digestive systems and breast cancers were examined in this study.  Men had no correlation  between alcohol consumption below the threshold and digestive system cancers.) Those folks who exceed 14 units a week DID have a higher incidence rate of throat cancer.

There is another study, called COGS,  that is examining the genetic susceptibility to some hormone-related cancer (breast, ovarian, and prostate cancers).    While Drenos et al are not involved in that study, they confirmed that they found no link to those cancers in their subjects who drank less than 14 units of alcohol.

And, now for the warnings!  For those who consumed MORE than 14 units per week, cancer of the head and neck and/or acute myocardial infarction (heart attacks) are well within the horizon. Below that level, one’s risk is attenuated enough that there is no discernible correlation.

Anyone up for a unit?