News from the Noteworthy from LEAF

What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You

What women don’t know won’t hurt them.

That turn of phrase arose from people being cautioned about maintaining plausible deniability. If you don’t know that a wrong or unethical thing is happening, then you can’t be held responsible. It seems that the alcohol industry has made a collective decision to remain conspicuously silent about the increased risk women face when it comes to alcohol consumption.

What we don’t know can’t hurt us, right?

Let me back up just a bit here. I selected this topic because October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Breast cancer is important and deserves our attention, not just for one month, but year round. But, for one month a year, thanks to the commercialization of the issue, everything turns pink; including alcoholic beverages, drink specials and alcohol-related fundraisers.

That becomes a larger issue that you might think. Alcohol is a Group 1 Carcinogen, meaning is it known to cause cancer in humans; seven different kind of cancers, to be exact. It even has the distinction of being the number one most preventable cause of breast cancer. I try to provide this information in nearly every discussion I give on the harms associated with alcohol because there are always several women who were never exposed to this knowledge. Women should know so that they can make informed decisions.

Our society simply doesn’t talk about it. We don’t really acknowledge that there are preventable risk factors related to breast cancer, especially when it comes to alcohol. It is likely due to the lingering outsized focus that has been placed on the “health benefits” of wine. (The earlier research about heart health that the alcohol industry seized on doesn’t hold up under continued review.)

In a study by the Boston School of Public Health, they found that 6,000 U.S. women die each year from alcohol-attributable breast cancers (15 percent of the total cases). And, although more alcohol equals more risk, multiple studies have shown that there is absolutely no safe level of alcohol consumption for female breast tissue. That is a startling bit of information. No safe amount.

If you were to guess, what percentage of women do you think know that about alcohol and breast cancer for a fact? I do not have research on this question. However, my experience over the last 10 years tells me that the majority of women do not know. And, this is not because they’re disinterested, uneducated or willfully ignorant. It is because they have not been informed by those who have a financial stake in remaining silent.

What we do know can at least hurt us less. This article is not intended to create fear or to wag a finger at any who enjoys a drink. This article is about the belief that an informed population has the greatest opportunity to base health choices on the best available knowledge given the current research. I find that people don’t talk to women very often about alcohol and their health. I always enjoy having the opportunity to do so. Although this article is not an advertisement, I would be delighted to come to your group to talk about it. (julie@leafinc.org)

If you are interested in doing a bit of your own research (I encourage it!), try Googling the following:

• World Health Organization: Alcohol and Cancer
• Alcohol and Breast Cancer Risks
• Breast Cancer Prevention

If you’re anything like me, you’ll be down the research rabbit hole in no time. Here’s to your health, ladies. Now what you do know can help you!

Julie Dostal is executive director of the LEAF Council on Alcoholism & Addictions, Oneonta.