Health: truths and untruths about wine and cancer

Alcohol is the second most common risk factor for preventable cancer after tobacco.

Despite its reputation, wine is also harmful.

AP - Christophe Ena

Text by: Nicolas Bamba Follow

4 mins

The National Cancer Institute has published its fourth Barometer relating to the attitudes and behavior of the French towards cancer.

In his study, it appears that 23.5% of 15-85 year olds think that drinking a little wine reduces the risk of cancer.

The opportunity to look into the beliefs around an alcohol erected as a symbol of French identity.

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“ 

Wine is not an alcohol like any other

 ”.

This is what Didier Guillaume said at the start of 2019, when he was Minister of Agriculture and Food in the government of Édouard Philippe.

A statement which at the time irritated many addictologists and doctors but which was part of a current of thought widespread in France, where there is a tendency to relativize the dangerousness of wine compared to other alcoholic drinks and spirits.

This image is tough and contributes to the emergence of other beliefs, as demonstrated by one of the figures from the latest Cancer Barometer,

established by the National Cancer Institute

.

According to the survey, 23.5% of French people aged 15 to 85 “ 

believe that drinking a little wine reduces the risk of cancer rather than not drinking it at all

 ”.

The reputation of a wine beneficial to health comes from several sources.

The National Cancer Institute points to the weight of alcohol consumption in French society, and in particular wine consumption.

This is " 

valued by representatives of the wine industry, some elected officials and politicians who describe it as a ''base of French identity''

 ", explains the Barometer.

The words of former minister Didier Guillaume in 2019 are not an isolated case.

Although the latest studies show a drop in alcohol consumption in France, wine remains a strong symbol of French gastronomic heritage.

► To read also: Wine is indeed an alcohol like any other

How wine got its good name

The Cancer Institute also suggests a “ 

generational effect

 ”: “ 

Certain alcohols such as wine, consumed more by older people, have long been perceived as having a protective nature, even beneficial for health.

 “Recent illustration of this elixir of life virtue with

Sister André, former dean of humanity

, who died on January 17 at the age of 118;

in the press, was often mentioned his usual glass of red every lunchtime.

Finally, following the same reasoning, an idea has spread widely and remains firmly rooted: wine, consumed in moderation, would be good for the heart.

It's the famous slogan “ 

a glass of wine a day is good

 ”.

On RFI, we published,

in 2010

, an article explaining these benefits.

An assertion that still has defenders within the medical community.

The regional daily

La Dépêche

looked again at the question at the end of 2021 and collected the opinion of a professor of cardiology, according to which " 

we are 99.9% certain that wine is protective against cardiovascular diseases and that 'it also protects us from atherosclerosis, that is to say the deposit of fat in the arteries

 '.

There are indeed antioxidants in wine;

grapes are rich in polyphenols and resveratrol.

Alcohol (and therefore wine), a scourge against cancer

A previous study, however, disproved this belief.

According to work published in mid-2018

in the journal

The Lancet

, drinking a glass of wine daily increases the risk of developing cancer or cardiovascular disease.

Therefore, between the divergent scientific opinions and the certainties acquired over time, it is not surprising that a significant number of French people are mistaken about the alleged benefits of wine in the fight against cancer.

Because if there are contradictory points of view as to the benefits or harms of wine in the prevention of cardiovascular diseases, science wants to be clear about the fight against cancer: wine, even consumed in moderation, does not has no preventive effect, on the contrary.

The National Cancer Institute is adamant.

“ 

Even at low doses, alcohol increases the risk of cancer.

The ethanol contained in alcoholic beverages is transformed in the body into compounds that promote the development of cancers

 ,” he writes on his site.

In France, alcohol is the second risk factor for avoidable cancer after tobacco.

In 2015, the National Cancer Institute estimated that 41,000 deaths were attributable to alcohol (30,000 men and 11,000 women).

Among these deaths, 16,000 are linked to cancer and 10,000 to cardiovascular pathologies.

The adage that a glass of wine is good for your health should also not make you forget that, by definition, alcohol can lead to alcoholism.

“ 

Daily wine is the problem (…) because it is a daily alcohol

 ”, recalled the

Addiction Federation

in early 2018.

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