
Well that's what the news says. One newscaster said that one drink per day can give you breast cancer... or was it associated with breast cancer? To some people there isn't much of a difference, and I even have trouble remembering the exact wording. But the message was clear. Put down that cocktail!
How do these studies get mentioned on the news? For one, the statistics in the study is that 1 drink per day will increase risk by 14%. The large increase in risk of 30% is reserved for women who drink more than 3 drinks a day.
My concerns: Cancer has so many factors I still don't understand how they isolate one factor and measure it over 20 years. As far as measurement goes, do you remember how many drinks you've had over the past year? The only way I would really remember is if I never or almost never drank or if I drank a good amount every day. So that really skews those results! I may not be a statistician or a particularly sharp research methodologist type, but the study definitely seems flawed. Maybe the news should stop acting like these studies are the end all be all. Or maybe I like cocktails.
Final straw: Kaiser Permanente funded it. Eww.
P.S.: Balanced reporting mandated that the newscaster had to mutter that obesity is supposed to increase risk of cancer by 50%. Hmm. 50% versus 30%. Number of obese people vs. number of people who drink more than 3 drinks a day. Why do they do these studies?!?!?!
Decide for yourself.
http://www.nbcsandiego.com/health/14216485/detail.html
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-09/kpdo-kps092207.php
How do these studies get mentioned on the news? For one, the statistics in the study is that 1 drink per day will increase risk by 14%. The large increase in risk of 30% is reserved for women who drink more than 3 drinks a day.
My concerns: Cancer has so many factors I still don't understand how they isolate one factor and measure it over 20 years. As far as measurement goes, do you remember how many drinks you've had over the past year? The only way I would really remember is if I never or almost never drank or if I drank a good amount every day. So that really skews those results! I may not be a statistician or a particularly sharp research methodologist type, but the study definitely seems flawed. Maybe the news should stop acting like these studies are the end all be all. Or maybe I like cocktails.
Final straw: Kaiser Permanente funded it. Eww.
P.S.: Balanced reporting mandated that the newscaster had to mutter that obesity is supposed to increase risk of cancer by 50%. Hmm. 50% versus 30%. Number of obese people vs. number of people who drink more than 3 drinks a day. Why do they do these studies?!?!?!
Decide for yourself.
http://www.nbcsandiego.com/health/14216485/detail.html
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-09/kpdo-kps092207.php
Soviet Propaganda poster from http://www.tululuka.net/alco/
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