Don't drink too much, not drinking is the best way to stay healthy

This is the 3610th article of Da Yi Xiao Hu

With the coming of the Spring Festival, the lively dining table is naturally inseparable from the presence of wine. The Chinese have been making wine since the Shang and Zhou dynasties three thousand years ago. Wine culture permeates the entire history of Chinese civilization. From culture and art to catering and entertainment, wine is an indispensable and important element. Especially in terms of health care, people are even more convinced that wine has magical effects. The Yuan Dynasty medical "Yinshi Zhengyao" said, "Wine tastes sweet and spicy, is very hot and poisonous, and is mainly used to promote the power of medicine, kill all evils, dredge blood vessels, thicken the stomach and intestines, and relieve worries." Until modern times, the media is still full of advertisements for various health-care wines, and a casual search on the Internet can find a lot of soft articles promoting the health and health-preserving effects of wine.

However, the truth may surprise people. Alcohol has no health benefits. In fact, it has long been listed as a Class I carcinogen by the World Health Organization. Every year, 800,000 people get cancer due to drinking. Alcohol causes 5.5% of cancer cases and 5.8% of cancer deaths worldwide. One in every 18 cancer cases is related to drinking. Cancers that occur in tissues that come into direct contact with alcohol, such as oral cancer, laryngeal cancer, and esophageal cancer, are highly correlated with drinking.

Why does drinking alcohol cause cancer? In fact, alcohol itself is not a carcinogen. The real culprit is its metabolite acetaldehyde in the body. The chemical name of alcohol is ethanol. After entering the human body, most of it is metabolized in the liver. First, it is metabolized into acetaldehyde under the action of alcohol dehydrogenase, and then acetaldehyde is metabolized into acetic acid by acetaldehyde dehydrogenase. Ethanol and acetic acid are relatively safe for the human body, while acetaldehyde can directly bind to DNA and induce gene mutations. Acetaldehyde can directly induce gene mutations in hematopoietic stem cells, leading to anemia in patients, low immune function, susceptibility to infection, and susceptibility to stroke and other hazards.

Some people may argue that drinking is safe as long as it is not excessive. The official US guidelines also recommend that women should not drink more than 350 ml of beer, 150 ml of red wine or 35 ml of liquor per day, while men should not drink more than twice this amount. But in fact, this recommendation means that if you can't stop drinking, it is best not to exceed this dose. Drinking less is also harmful, and drinking is more harmful to women's bodies than men. It is safest not to drink at all.

Compared with Westerners who love to drink beer and wine, Chinese people tend to prefer strong liquor. However, there are a large number of people in China who carry the acetaldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH2) gene defect. The characteristic of these people is that they tend to blush after drinking. Because of the lack of acetaldehyde dehydrogenase, acetaldehyde accumulates in the body after drinking. Acetaldehyde can rapidly expand capillaries throughout the body, especially the capillaries in the forehead and face, causing blushing after drinking. These people are more susceptible to alcohol damage. Experiments show that mice carrying the ALDH2 gene defect have four times more DNA mutations than ordinary mice after drinking.

There is a popular saying that drinking a small amount of red wine is good for the body, softening blood vessels and promoting blood circulation. There is also evidence that wine contains antioxidants such as resveratrol, anthocyanins, and tannins. In fact, it is completely nonsense that red wine is good for health. Not only are the so-called antioxidants scarce, but there is also no sufficient scientific basis for taking antioxidants to be good for health. A European and American study analyzed the data of 12 million women and found that even if they only drank one glass of red wine a day, the probability of women developing breast cancer would increase significantly.

Early studies did show that drinking a small amount of red wine can reduce the incidence of cardiovascular disease, but new, larger-scale experimental results do not support this view. In addition, studies have shown that people who do not drink at all have a lower incidence of coronary heart disease and stroke than those who drink a small amount. Drinking affects fat metabolism and increases the risk of hyperlipidemia; reduces lipid metabolism efficiency and promotes atherosclerosis; excites nerves, increases heart rate, and increases the burden on the heart. All of these will increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. Drinking also affects the digestive system and central nervous system, and is related to mental illnesses such as hypertension, stroke, osteoarthritis, peptic ulcers, and depression.

Some people may be panicked when reading this. What should I do if I have been drinking for many years? Quit drinking as soon as possible! After 20 years of quitting drinking, the risk of oral cancer, pharyngeal cancer, and esophageal cancer is the same as that of non-drinkers. Put down the wine glass in your hand and firmly say "no" to those who persuade you to drink.

Author: Songjiang Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine

Wang Xuemin

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