SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Regular beer consumption linked to higher prostate cancer risk:
[...] Overall, the researchers found no significant association between heavy consumption of all types of alcohol and prostate cancer. However, the results were very different in the case of heavy drinkers of beer. "Men in the upper quartile of beer consumption (over 63 drinks per year over several decades) had a 40% increased risk of advanced prostate cancer compared to the control group," said Karakiewicz, who is director of the Cancer Prognostics and Health Outcomes Unit at the University of Montreal Health Center (CHUM).
Men whose beer consumption was slightly above average did not see an increase in their risk of developing prostate cancer. It's only when the daily quantity of beer consumed reaches a certain threshold that the risk starts to rise. "For example, our model shows that for a man who starts drinking at the age of 18 and drinks more than two beers every day, the risk of a high-grade prostate cancer appears at the age of 65. If he drinks more than three beers a day, the risk emerges at 50 years of age," Karakiewicz explained.
"At least one out of five participants in the study consumed beer at levels above what is considered safe," he added. Given that the cumulative consumption of beer over a lifetime appears to be a predictor of disease, he believes that it should be taken into account by physicians and urologists when seeing patients.
Fake Brews!
(Score: 4, Insightful) by qzm on Thursday September 13 2018, @06:14AM (10 children)
Correlation does not equal causation.
Perhaps, just perhaps, men who drink a larger amount of beer regularly, oh I dont know, have higher rates of smoking, work jobs that expose them to more carcinogens, dont exercise as much, etc, etc, etc.
Relatively high consumtion of beer is quite correlated to lower working class for males - which is also correlated to a LOT of other cancer risk factors......
But no, we are expected to, yet again, assume that there is a causal link because they find a correlation.
Well guess what, roosters crowing is VERY correlated with the sun coming up, but the Rooster doesnt cause it..
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 13 2018, @06:46AM (7 children)
Also, 63 beers a year seems really low to me. Am I exceptional to think most people who drink at all will be drinking far more than one drink a week?
(Score: 2) by rleigh on Thursday September 13 2018, @08:10AM (4 children)
It doesn't square with the numbers in the following paragraph, where 2/3 beers per day equates to risk of high-grade prostate cancer at 65/50 years of age. Maybe it also includes benign growth or low grade cancers. Or maybe it's a typo. It would have been interesting to see the actual numbers, it's always a shame when articles like this don't include the real data.
(Score: 5, Informative) by rleigh on Thursday September 13 2018, @09:29AM (3 children)
https://nouvelles.umontreal.ca/en/article/2018/09/05/regular-beer-consumption-linked-to-higher-prostate-cancer-risk/ [umontreal.ca] linked to from the article contains a correction. It's one beer a day for *63 years*.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 13 2018, @05:49PM (1 child)
How do you swap units like that...
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 13 2018, @08:19PM
Too many beers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 14 2018, @08:44AM
So say you start drinking a beer a day at 16 and then you get prostate cancer at 79. Sounds fine with me - the other parts are probably failing at 79 already and more likely to kill you before the prostrate cancer does (prostate cancer at 79 tends to be quite slow growing).
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 13 2018, @08:12AM
Somebody screwed up their numbers or times somewhere, because he then starts talking about more than two beers a day. That might be 63 a month.
(Score: 2) by Taibhsear on Thursday September 13 2018, @03:25PM
I'm a little concerned with the math myself... First it says 63 beers a year (~1 beer every 6 days), then 2-3 beers a day (730-1095 beers a year). That's a HUGE difference in range. Plus they didn't adjust for what brand or style of beer they drank which can make a huge difference. The various ingredients, additives & preservatives, water sources (radioactivity, heavy metals), container types (ie. bpa in cans vs glass)...
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 13 2018, @09:23AM
Roosters actually crow 24 hours a day. Especially when startled, but really whenever they feel like being dicks.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Hyperturtle on Thursday September 13 2018, @01:50PM
I thought it was the hops and the estrogenalike chemicals in it that messed with a guy's hormones?
Most 'articles' online worry about manboobs or something stupid like that. Few sites will say to worry about the effects of small amounts of these hormones consumed over the course of a man's adult life. They mostly say go exercise to work off thet calories, which has nothing to do with causing a higher risk of prostate cancer.
Here's a link that describes pretty much what would lead me to the conclusion its hops.
https://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/arh22-3/220.pdf [nih.gov]
That is no smoking gun, of course... just entertaining reading about what the estrogenic effects do in the short term, to male and female mammals.
No one (to my knowledge) has explicitly done a study that points out what beer consumption can do over 50 years to a guys prostate. One could draw a conclusion that repeated exposure to hormones or hormone disruption over a long period of time, even if the quantity per drink is low, would do something negative to a creature that isn't designed to make use of extra doses of estrogen. For example, post-menopausal women receive mildly positive benefits.
However, as the fine article states:
"Various aspects of the estrogenic effects of alcoholic beverage congeners, however, remain to be elucidated"