Weekly alcohol consumption
Up to six bottles of champagne at weekends
“For me, drinking is about relaxing and socializing. And
with the help of about six bottles of bubbly, I’m very sociable and relaxed
over the course of Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I can drink cocktails and
spirits without getting legless but these days I prefer champagne or wine and
they often bring me undone.
I know it’s binge drinking but I don’t aim to get drunk. I
feel tipsy after about three drinks and I’m aware I’ve had enough. The problem
is, if someone tells me to stop I’ll just drink more.
I sometimes wake up anxious about what I might have said the
night before. If I’ve had a big night I don’t remember a thing, so I often
cringe when people tell me about my behavior. That is a worry but I don’t get
embarrassingly drunk every single time I drink.
There is no history of cancer in my family.”
Up to six bottles
of champagne at weekends
The verdicts
For cancer risk, it doesn’t matter if your alcohol
consumption is all in one go or spread over the week. Diane’s cancer risk is
increased by the amount of alcohol she drinks. An estimated 22 per cent of all breast
cancers are attributable to alcohol, and since this is a totally modifiable
risk factor it’s well worth Diane reducing her intake. – IO
Diane’s drinking may have caused chronic changes in her
liver. The side effects can mean that some medicines are less likely to work
and some, such as paracetamol, become more toxic. It’s not unusual to see
people who drink more than two drinks a day causing themselves serious liver
damage because they’ve unintentionally overdosed. People with liver problems
should have no more than four paracetamol tablets in 24 hours. Diane could also
benefit from a liver assessment and Fibroscan. – NS
For heart disease risk, it does matter that Diane has all
her alcohol in one go. Binge drinking negates all the potential benefits of
wine and actually increases risk for stroke and heart attack. It’s likely that
Diane’s drinking is also driven by anxiety, so I would advise her to see her
GP. Her impaired judgment when she drinks could easily lead to accident or
injury. – DC
The moderate drinker
Weekly alcohol consumption
About one bottle of wine
“I have a glass of red wine with dinner on most nights of
the week and I will also sometimes have wine if I’m out to lunch on weekends.
I’ve read that it’s good for your health but I would probably still have it
even if that wasn’t the case.
I did binge drink a few times when I was younger but I’ve
never been a heavy drinker. I think a nice glass of wine adds to the enjoyment
of a good meal but one or two nights a week I go without. I drink from my own
glass at home. It’s very small and probably doesn’t even hold a standard drink.
There is no history of cancer in my family but my mother
died of a heart attack at the age of 50 and my father had a heart attack at
54.”
About one bottle
of wine
The verdicts
Shirley’s not doing too badly at all. Her alcohol
consumption is low and she is at low risk of cancer of the bowel, breast, head
or neck. – IO
There’s no level of drinking that offers an absolute zero
risk for liver disease but Shirley is probably as close as you can get. – NS
Shirley is having wine with a meal and at the ideal dose for
heart health. But because her parents both had heart attacks at a young age,
she should definitely have a full assessment of her cardiac health, including
cholesterol, blood pressure and a cardiac calcium test. – DC
Do you need a fibro scan test?
Not everyone who drinks ends up with liver disease but most
people have more than one risk factor, for example, obesity, high cholesterol
and type 2 diabetes. Dr. Shackel says it’s impossible to predict who might
emerge unscathed after years of heavy drinking and who will suffer liver
failure at a relatively young age. Many people with liver disease don’t find
out until it’s too late to fix. A painless, non-invasive test called FibroScan,
similar to an ultrasound, can measure liver stiff ness and identify scarring or
cirrhosis. A liver assessment and FibroScan test requires a referral to a
gastroenterologist but is covered by Medicare.
Do you need a
fibro scan test?
