'Dr Boyle: Cavemen, Saturday night. Two cavemen were sitting and talking to each other. They said, "It's very strange. We don't drink alcohol and we don't have cigarettes. We don't have any environmental pollution. All the food that we eat is wholesome and there is no contamination. And yet no one lives past the age of 40." So there are big factors out there. The bottom line is that we're not going to live forever. Life is a sexually transmitted disease that is invariably fatal'.

'Dr Boyle:The arguments for alcohol are really quite complicated, particularly when you get down to low levels. For alcoholics and those who consume high levels of alcohol, there is no gain. None at all. But taking one glass of wine per day probably has a benefit in some respects, and at very low levels, probably a null effect in our lives'.

'Dr Kerr: Is there an effect from duration of exposure as well? I guess with alcoholism and chronic liver disease, we see it there. But with the cumulative breast cancer risk, you say that for every 1 unit of alcohol, risk increases by 7%. Is that drinking steadily for 10 years or 20 years?'

'Dr Boyle: It's generally associated with at least medium-term consumption because the studies tend not to have enough cases. The prospective studies tend not to have enough cases of women who drink. Even after 10 or 15 years of follow-up, you don't exactly know what was going on beforehand. But it seems very consistent. There are about 100 studies that are surprisingly consistent, particularly when you're looking for those very low relative risks'.

Excerpt from:

June 08, 2015; Medscape commentary, 'Sherlock Holmes' on the Question of Alcohol and Cancer.

David Kerr, CBE, MD, DSc, FRCP, FMedSci; Peter Boyle, PhD, DSc, FMedSci

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/845917?nlid=82555_1842&src=wnl_edit_medp_wir&uac=112845FY&spon=17