“Your Happy Hour Habits Could Raise Your Cancer Risk”
February 11, 2025, by Sumathi Reddy
Dr. Catena’s Response:
Sumathi Reddy’s article, Your Happy Hour Habits Could Raise Your Cancer Risk, mistakenly equates all alcohol drinking with smoking. This comparison is flawed. Moderate alcohol consumption—up to one drink per day for women and two for men—has been associated with cardiovascular benefits. Tobacco increases cardiovascular risk even at low consumption levels. A recent peer-reviewed report by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) found that moderate drinkers lived longer and had fewer cardiovascular deaths than never drinkers. The potential biological mechanism for this: alcohol in moderation has been shown to act as a clot buster, raise good cholesterol (HDL), and reduce diabetes risk. As Reddy stated, alcohol consumption has been linked to an increase in breast cancer risk. Yet scientists have questioned the observational data behind both the potential cancer and the potential cardiovascular impacts of moderate alcohol consumption. I urge this administration, which has promised to focus on the food and drink of Americans, to fund a randomized controlled study—the gold standard—on moderate alcohol consumption and health. In the meantime, as a woman over 40 with a tenfold greater risk of dying from cardiovascular disease than breast cancer, I will continue to enjoy wine in moderation. The Mediterranean lifestyle, which includes optional wine in moderation, has been associated with lower risk of cancer, cardiovascular, and all-cause mortality.
Laura Catena MD
San Francisco, CA
In Defense of Wine 
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