Many people admire wine culture and its intricacies, and most people think that: (red) wine is healthy if used one glass a day. However, oncologists are shaking their heads, as research shows they dramatically increase the risk of cancer, with women more affected than men.
According to the World Health Organization, alcohol is classified in the first group in terms of the ability to cause cancer. Up to 5.5% of cancers worldwide are caused by alcohol. The more alcohol a person drinks, the higher the risk of cancer, especially cancer of the throat, esophagus, liver, breast and colorectal.
Alcohol is just a general concept, which contains ethanol – it’s the real culprit that’s causing the problems. As the alcohol level increases, i.e. the ethanol content increases, the damage is greater. Alcohol itself – ethanol does not cause cancer, but after entering the human body, it is converted into acetaldehyde. Acetaldehyde damages genes (DNA) and proteins in the body. Drinking alcohol promotes oxidation, aging, hinders the absorption of nutrients including vitamins A, B, C, D, E, folate and carotenoids, increases the amount of estrogen in the blood. .
Wine, although it doesn’t ferment like regular alcohol, ends up containing alcohol – ethanol. Light wines contain 5 to 7%, heavier wines contain 13 to 17%. Many women like to drink wine partly because the alcohol is quite light and has heard: “good for the health”. Many middle-class families have a habit of drinking wine every day. However, the experts say you need to reconsider.
A joint study between the University of Southampton and Bangor University, based on data from Cancer Research UK and the National Bureau of Statistics, compared the risk of death from smoking and alcohol. The authors found that drinking 1 bottle of red wine per week increased the risk of cancer as much as smoking about 5 cigarettes per week for men and 10 cigarettes per week for women.
Men and women who drank 3 bottles of red wine per week had a cancer risk of 1.9% and 3.6%, respectively, equivalent to smoking 8 and 23 cigarettes per week for men and women.
“Women share the same amount of alcohol and are more affected than men.”
Regular consumption of red wine can increase the risk of cancer, which up to 90% of people don’t expect, according to a Cancer Research UK survey.
So why do people still say: drinking wine is good for you?
This can be for 2 reasons.
The first is that red wine is made from grapes, and grapes are quite high in antioxidants, especially resveratrol, which has the effect of scavenging free radicals, thereby strengthening the body’s immune system. However, experts say that if you really think about your body and really want to reap the benefits of resveratol, then eat red grapes, especially clean, medium-ripened grapes. Then you get not only resveratol, but also hundreds of antioxidants and other nutrients, without any toxicity from alcohol (ethanol).
Another reason to say wine is good may be because drinking in moderation helps stimulate blood circulation, which is good for the heart. However, experts also warn that people who drink alcohol (even a little) fall far short of the group of people who do not touch alcohol.
For these reasons, it also won’t surprise you to find all kinds of information on the web regarding red wine, good or bad. It is a fact that long term consumption becomes addictive, and often the dose needs to be increased. The first day I had a drink, I felt dizzy, after a few days I got used to it, otherwise I felt lacking. Also, nowadays there are a lot of fake spirits, so we have more reason to be careful with this product line.