Science
Does alcohol consumption really help prevent coronary heart disease in older women? What are the adverse effects of its intake on the risk of developing breast cancer? In this podcast, Professor Tim Stockwell, director of the Centre for Addictions Research of British Columbia, University of Victoria, Canada, tries to answer these questions. He is the author of a commentary published in the EBM journal (ebm.bmj.com) on the paper, “Five year change in alcohol intake and risk of breast cancer and coronary heart disease among postmenopausal women: prospective cohort study”, published by The BMJ. Tim Stockwell tells the Editor-in-Chief of EBM, Richard Saitz, the findings of this particular research conducted over an 11-year period need to be interpreted with caution and are not “as compelling as the authors suggest they are”. The Professor of Psychology whose research interests include measurement of alcohol consumption and related harms argues that there is evidence “to be skeptical about protective effects of drinking” alcohol. Therefore, a complete set of studies in this area is needed. A commentary on the cohort study “Late-life increases in alcohol consumption among postmenopausal women appear associated with greater breast cancer risk and less coronary heart disease risk”, by Professor Tim Stockwell, can be read here: http://ebm.bmj.com/content/early/2016/08/23/ebmed-2016-110503.full and found in the October 2016 issue of EBM. The research paper “Five year change in alcohol intake and risk of breast cancer and coronary heart disease among postmenopausal women: prospective cohort study” is available here: http://www.bmj.com/content/353/bmj.i2314.full.