How Does Alcohol Increase the Risk of Cancer? | Dr. Andrew Huberman

Dr. Andrew Huberman explains how alcohol increases the risk of cancer.
Dr. Andrew Huberman is a tenured professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford University School of Medicine and host of the Huberman Lab podcast.
Full episode: • What Alcohol Does to Y...
Show notes: hubermanlab.com/what-alcohol-...
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[@HubermanLabClips]

This clip is from the Huberman Lab episode "What Alcohol Does to Your Body, Brain & Health." The full episode can be found on KZbin here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/epy2YqOhgNV8grs

[@modernanimist2421]

Alcohol should have cancer warnings like cigarette cartons. And people who glorify alcohol use (“wine mom” culture, etc. should know that they are increasing women’s cancer risk and ultimately leading to excess premature deaths.)

[@ShitWrangler]

wine mom killed the most!

[@vaddykaur]

snowflake.

[@drewbowski]

LORD- grow up

[@georgej8121]

In my country they now started to have commercials about this on tv, radio and social media

[@timewind3870]

It will eventually. But same process would have to repeat itself. Alcohol companies being sued ,just like big tobacco

[@normavoyton3208]

I just wanted to say I love this channel. I love the podcasts but these little nuggets are perfect.

[@dawidkotur3961]

I am interested in all kinds of medical research as a fun pass time, I often read academic papers or get my wife to talk me through them (she is a doctor and researcher). But since I had a son a year ago I thought I had to give up this hobby because it was taking too much time! I am so glad I discovered your podcasts and your Twitter account, now I get my fix from your excellent ability to summarise lengthy research into chunks that are easy to follow but detailed enough to satisfy my curiosity about how things work.

[@avayu2289]

I don’t drink alcohol nor smoke and I am consistently told that I am way younger than my chronological age. But how can others not know of this? That when you don’t ingest toxins and workout, you will look great and be healthy because health is everything in life.

[@Corey-iw4ot]

U stay away from fast food as well

[@sebikelifeusvetparatrooper]

🤪

[@vwracer969]

thank you for sharing this. seriously.

[@jennyshanespitler4033]

Thanks for the great info. 😍👏👏

[@chumbo3992]

Alcohol intoxication is probably the least interesting altered state I’ve experienced.

[@benfrink376]

What's your most interesting?

[@chumbo3992]

@@benfrink376 without a doubt a n n-dimethyltryptamine “breakthrough”

[@benfrink376]

@@chumbo3992 lol you used its government name. Had me googling it just to find out its DMT

[@carguy-xv2cl]

Id rather be on alcohol than dmt. You can't force your opinion on everyone.

[@IAmNotABot]

in 50yrs time our kids/grandkids will look at alcohol how we now look at cigarettes. Unless the drinks industry lobby to keep the information suppressed as they have been doing all these years like the cigarettes companies did. we should be free to drink if we like, but need the information on risks. Thanks Dr Humberman again for your great videos

[@kdelete4949]

Doubt it. Alcohol is to in grained to everyday society

[@Libertas_P77]

@@kdelete4949 So were cigarettes 50-80yrs ago.

[@777Thebear]

The difference is the OR, RR values for cigarette smoke were indicators for its high probability of cancer anyway ranging from 24 to 135. Where as drinking unless in excess isn't statistically significant. So smoking and drinking you cannot put into the same category.

[@sandragee2864]

Whoa! This took courage on your part to devote a 10 minute clip giving out this information! Sometimes what science point toward is not popular. But fact is fact and thank you for taking time to inform about the facts. You are a gifted communicator!

[@jamesn7156]

Pretty much gave up all alcohol 11 months ago. I was a two drink a weekday and 4 or 5 weekend guy. After about a month the cravings stopped. Besides an occasional drink when offered, don’t think I’ll go back. Gotta think forward now that I’m in my 40s. It blows my mind that some states won’t allow weed, but allow alcohol. I had a step-uncle drink himself to death and another who’s about to.

[@vaddykaur]

weed is very harmful to health too. Don't kid yourself

[@levinsonl]

ok so the 4-13% is grams per DAY. took him a long time to get to that. he made it sound like it was for every 10 grams consumed, period.

[@themikeroberts]

That's what I was thinking! I was like there's no way that stat is true and then half way into the episode he said per day which dramatically changes it.

[@levinsonl]

@@themikeroberts there is some good content buried in this guy's videos, but the way he talks drives me nuts, can't listen to it

[@chieldejong6221]

Its interesting because folate/b12 actually proliferates the growth of some types of leukemia, once they are established. The main chemotherapy used to treat the leukemia is actually a folate-inhibitor (methotrexate).

[@memastarful]

I worked as a pediatric nurse in the oncology unit. Cancer is a terrible disease 😔 I never knew what the right words to say to my patients family members other than on a professional level. I just did my job in the most kind loving sensitive way possible.

[@simonjohn70]

UR A NURSE U SHOULD CARE FOR YOUR PATIENTS EVIL LADY NEEDS TO FIND ANOTHER CAREER IF SHE WONT CARE

[@memastarful]

@@simonjohn70 I believe you shouldn't point a finger at someone you don't know at all. I have always cared for my precious patients. By the way, I got awarded for being top in my department caring not only for patients but coworkers as well. It's a labor of love

[@sandragee2864]

Thanks!

[@HubermanLabClips]

Thank you for your support!

[@linneabarnes1437]

I'm so glad I found your podcasts. I started drinking a lot during covid lockdown....and recently I was really ill with covid and stopped drinking all hard liquor (it just felt like poison) and now I'm hardly drinking wine and that's going to stop now as well. I don't ever want to go down that path again.

[@innocentshorti]

That’s amazing! Thank you for sharing!

[@INHIAF]

I’m generally very skeptical whenever Andrew talks about drugs, but the way he talked about this is absolutely great. The only thing I’m skeptical of is his focus being only on breast cancer. The highest risk of cancer from alcohol in both sexes is liver cancer and esophageal cancer. Yet, these are not mentioned and this video is only centered on breast cancer. Alcohol is generally not a big concern for cancer because it only kills at most 80,000 people a year due to any alcohol related deaths (even deaths from drunk driving). While tobacco is associated with over 480,000 deaths a year with 40,000 deaths estimated from second hand smoke alone. So the one thing I am skeptical of is 10 grams of ethanol a day equating to 10 cigarettes a day. I do want to mention that I only know 2 people in my life that drink hard liquor regularly (my two gay uncles) and one was recently diagnosed with esophageal cancer. He also regularly smokes a few cigarettes a day, so it could be that or the alcohol. But please pray for him as he started chemotherapy last week🙏🏽

[@romanmiller6924]

I think you misunderstood his stated figures, elsewhere it states 1 bottle of wine equates to 5 cigarettes a week in men and 10 a week in women in relation to cancer rates.

[@Vesprit007]

Danke!

[@HubermanLabClips]

Thank you for your support!

[@allisonfalin8854]

My mother was one to drink quite moderately. She’s had colon and breast cancers. I don’t drink alcohol for that reason.

[@nothingbutfacts1676]

The solution is simple just quit drinking alcohol.

[@tomscully7489]

Yeah addicts, it's simple. Just stop! Super easy.

[@fletargo2844]

that's bad news for me can you suggest some ways to offset the negative effects of alcohol? broccoli maybe?

[@phylenejanousek2740]

How much of this is about the sugar??

[@Corey-iw4ot]

What about colon and prostate cancer. I think it from aspartame too

[@guessmyname1104]

Toby Keith made many songs about drinking. He died from stomach cancer. 🤔

[@Ste2023]

Modern "beer / wine is full of Sugar and chemicals .

[@huntforberries]

Yeah. I'm not gona get drinks today. This is so alarming

[@carlhansen9512]

No need to be alarmed. Your risk of cancer from alcohol consumption is infinitesimally small (1.5-3.0%). He's conflating relative and absolute risk.

[@JohnnyNada]

​@@carlhansen9512 3% increased chance of cancer even is a good enough reason not to do something lol

[@carlhansen9512]

@@JohnnyNada pay no attention to the risk of former drinkers. Newsflash, it's all about the sugar.

[@pauljones7923]

Almost every large study that has looked at lifetime alcohol intake has shown that teetotal people live the shortest lives

[@MichaelSalo]

I wonder if alcohol is also able to damage or kill the mitochondria of cells. And if this could be another mechanism leading to cancerous cells.

[@clives4501]

Relative risk or absolute risk? Makes a big difference!

[@777Thebear]

It's relative risk and it's based on epidemiological studies

[@themikeroberts]

Isn't it the same? If the absolute risk for non drinkers is 10%, a 4 % increase in relative risk would be 10.4%. A 4% increase in absolute increase would also be 10.4%

[@777Thebear]

@@themikeroberts no an absolute risk increase would be in your scenario if the risk is 10% an absolute risk increase of 4% would be 14%. A relative risk would be 10.4%

[@ridgebologna]

After sobriety, how long for the body to fully recover and return you to a “as before” state with regard to your cancer risk as it relates to alcohol.

[@themikeroberts]

I don't think ever. It did the damage when it was consumed

[@shellybellyluv]

@@themikeroberts I don't think that's true. Fasting and diet can reverse much of the damage. Look into autophagy.

[@carlhansen9512]

It doesn't. In fact, your cancer rates are higher among former drinkers.

[@JackWallters]

Never

[@sw8281]

Of course your body recovers but probably takes years just like smoking. After 20 years off cigarettes, your risks are that of a never smoker for many people.

[@nti2763]

what about alcohol in kombucha?

[@themikeroberts]

All (edible) alcohol is the same ethanol.

[@kmo235]

As a Russian person I should say it is a stereotype that in Russia we drink vodka a lot. Younger generations prefer wines. after living in europe I see that for example in Germany people drink more, liters of beer.

[@MichaelSalo]

The B vitamin issue is a tricky one, as we are also told that B vitamins can fuel cancer cells. 7:57

[@magalyflores6766]

Me molesta que la gente diga: hay que prohibir o porqué no prohíben tal cosa?, parece que odiamos la libertad! 😂...en fin ...lo correcto es informarnos y decidir, no pedir que se prohíba tal o cuál cosa, actuemos como adultos.

[@deathmetal0073]

Very unclear whether your were saying were saying 10 gram alone increases chances by 4-13% or 10 grams daily causes that increase.

[@shoognboogadventures1722]

I’ve heard 1 drink average per day. His full discussion on this that’s 2 hours long explains it all

[@phuongkimmai3294]

🙏🌺

[@androidaccount7743]

We should laugh at people drinking red wine for health reasons then.

[@snapadam]

I did it, until Andrew pointed out that you'd have to consume hell of a lot of red wine to enjoy the health benefits of resveratrol :-D

[@panteleymonschekochikhin-k1978]

So a 4-13% risk increase for every 10 gram, let's round that to 10% increase every drink. Does that mean a 100% increase after 10 drinks? A 1000% after 100 drinks? 100 drinks is something some people consume in like a month, does that mean their risk increases 1000% every month? Sounds absurd.

[@777Thebear]

Got many questions. I'm neither for nor against alcohol as a preface to this. Are these studies you quote as causation epidemiological studies, or controlled trials? As we both can agree epidemiology can not prove causation. Also the 12% increase is relative risk (at least in the articles I found which were all epidemiological studies). So say breast cancer risk in women is 12.9 % according to google. That would bring the actual risk from 12.9% to 13.5% which is only absolute increaseof 0.6%. So how can you justify that a 0.6% increase is statistically significant. They also try to say that red meat causes cancer by 18% but again that isnt true. It is the fallacy of the epidemiological study. Once you remove unhealthy user bias there is no correlation. What about blue zones and their alcohol consumption? They all drink multiple drinks per day, and they have high levels of people to live to be +100 years old.

[@carlhansen9512]

The reason people appear to live longer in "blue zones" is pension fraud.

[@arctos333]

I’m not sure if you just have bad memory or have a hard time with listening comprehension or just did not watch the video, but he literally explained in the video how there is abundant evidence in the scientific literature on how certain chemicals produced by alcohol metabolism are associated with increased risk of developing cancer. There is abundant evidence on how alcohol for instance, alters cells, namely disrupts its growth and division, and damages DNA. All associated with cancer development. It’s not like the whole thesis is based solely on an attempt to manufacture a statistical correlation between alcohol consumption and cancer.

[@carlhansen9512]

@@arctos333 He's misrepresenting the data, simple as that. It's been proven that the increased risk of cancer as a result of drinking alcohol is about 1%, and risk of cancer among former drinkers is the highest of all groups. All cause mortality is also actually highest among non-drinkers. These are scientific facts, results of actual study, not conjecture and hyperbole from a biased source, as I believe Huberman to be. He lost all credibility with this video.

[@arctos333]

@@carlhansen9512 citations needed.

[@arctos333]

@UC9ZRHduzt-aLAO99eEHsJPA he literally did that. Read the description. He cites every source in his notes. And exactly, people can read the sources and make their own decisions. I think I’m gonna accept the scientific consensus rather than opt for some bullshit claims of “misrepresenting data”. You don’t need to be a bloody genius to know that alcohol is not good for your body.

[@RolandoGill]

Wouldn't that suggest that Russians would have a disproportionate incidence of breast cancer?

[@OdisTx]

Doubt they report it

[@Morese56]

We know alcohol is not good? So remind me How do you stop drinking?

[@Clowncentral101]

Go to therapy if you need to. If you can get over the social stigma it’s totally worth it.

[@mbrochh82]

This makes no sense. I know literally hundreds of people who drink a bottle or two of beer EVERY DAY. Based on these numbers, almost every person in the western world should have breast cancer. Ironically, the only woman that I personally know that had breast cancer, barely ever drank alcohol at all. Mathematically speaking, what does it mean to have a "4-16% increase in risk for every 10 gram consumed"? Doesn't that mean that if I just drink a hundred beers my risk of cancer reaches 100%? This can't be it, because no drinker I know developed breast cancer. Is it that the risk is 0.00000001% to begin with in a baseline healthy human, and therefore increasing that by any % barely makes a difference at all? If so, I think that should be pointed out before spreading such fearmongering headlines. How does this even work in real life. When I drink one beer, is my risk now elevated for the rest of my life? Or does it go down back to baseline the next day, once my body got the alcohol out of my system? And lastly, when you throw out wild claims like this, at least describe how these scientific papers came to these conclusions? What methods were used? I would think that it is nearly impossible to calculate such numbers, as you would have to follow millions of people and let them self-report what they consumed for years -- the lowest quality of scientific data we can get. There will be thousands of confounding variables and it should be nearly impossible to conclude that specifically alcohol was the culprit here. I'm sure there is a healthy user bias at play. People who self report of drinking no alcohol are most likely also doing more sports and eating healthier and higher quality food. Maybe the group of alcohol consumers just got cancer because of otherwise unhealthy lifestyle choices and the amount of alcohol played little to no role at all?

[@clives4501]

Relative risk vs absolute risk. That's very important.

[@themikeroberts]

I didn't read your whole comment but just regarding percentage and risk increase: Your increasing by percentage POINTS, not percent. So say risk for non drinkers is 10%, an increase of 4% would result in 10.4% since 4% of 10 is 0.4. This contrasts to 4 percentage points which would equal 14%.

[@alishajones3439]

Grace Jones, one of Britain's oldest women, attributes her ripe age of 110 to drinking whisky every night for the last 60 years.

[@jonathanlignieres8804]

My grandparents in france drank wine everyday and both lived to 100 so go figure

[@KaranKumar-qo4yj]

lol my uncle drove really fast and rash every day and never got into an accident and lived until 90 so go figure.

[@777Thebear]

@@KaranKumar-qo4yj is not just that. Every blue zone drinks multiple alcoholic drinks per day. Something doesn't add up with this.

[@drzxc123]

studies have shown significant increases in longevity from cultural aspects like quality time with family and friends. IMO potentially offsetting negative effects of harmful lifestyle choices disproportionately

[@777Thebear]

@@drzxc123 there is that aspect, but they still drink alcohol and live long lives. All of it is epidemiological studies anyway so none of it matters until we get actual controlled trials.

[@r.m5883]

IMO it’s toxic burden. In the USA, toxic burden is already high and alcohol is insult to injury. In France, food quality and standard of life is better, and the alcohol probably gets offset by those other factors

[@crd88918]

i’m so fucked… damn

[@atraposa.k.4192]

10 grams (per day) = + 12% incrase the risk of cancer => 80 grams = Certain Cancer or 8 beers per day leads to certain cancer. The Rusian according to a 2011 report by the WHO, annual per capita consumption of alcohol in Russia was about 15.76 litres (/365=41ml per day). Thats is 50% incrase the risk of cancer. Do we have data for that ?

[@kubalec1]

+12% od baseline risk. NOT general risk. So if you have 20% risk then +12%(of 20%) gives 22,4% in total

[@atraposa.k.4192]

​@@kubalec1 Thanks for your replay. Even so the cancer risk in Rusia or in Poland ..... should be 50%(of 20%) = 30% at least a remacable increases of csncrer. Have we have the data for such a remacable risk ?

[@ethimself5064]

A wise old timer once said - If one is going to jump out of high flying airplanes, it is best to learn about parachutes and use one. As the B vitas go always use the full range of then - IN the Methylated/Activated forms. Why? Because at least 40% and up to 60% of people's body's can not convert many of the regular forms to be active in one's body. Most health issues are caused by a lack of adequate nutrition.

[@danmosley4387]

Your numbers are wrong.

[@andreassa]

It is funny how Dr Huberman feels the need to say “you dont need to know this”. Well, we technically don’t need to know any of it. Classic professor mode LOL Cheers

[@josephramone5805]

Did this study(ies) from where the "data" is derived include places like Italy, Spain and the Greek islands, where people live long lives and drink wine every day? From your website, it looks like one major study was done in the UK. A narrow set of test subjects. If the study is solely based on data from industrial areas or big cities, then MANY other factors need to be considered: pollutants, chemicals, stress, eating habits etc... Please answer the question if you expect to be taken seriously. I genuinely would like to know the answer. Thank you! (BTW...I don't drink and I'm not defending drinkers, or the right to drink. I'm defending statistical integrity. ANY and ALL studies on alcohol MUST include the Blue Zones. Otherwise the studies are incomplete and untrustworthy)

[@dipsydoodle]

By design.

[@martinepeters9891]

So I have a 100.000 % more chance to get cancer.

[@randylogan4339]

basically yeah

[@mbrochh82]

so the baseline risk is so tiny, that even a 100,000% increase makes no statistically relevant difference?

[@martinepeters9891]

@@mbrochh82 I don't know. I have been a heavy drinker for 23 years now and recently had my body checked for cancer. I think that I'm genetically lucky to be still healthy and feel like I got away with it. I recently stopped the drinking.

[@themikeroberts]

It could be more than 100%. E.G. if the increase in risk is 10% per drink a day and you have 15 drinks per day, your increase in risk is 150%. If the risk for a non drinkers was 5% your risk would be 5% mutliplied 150% = 7.5%

[@randylogan4339]

@@themikeroberts he said 100,000 percent...

[@Piface2099]

So the ancients who started brewing beer were into something; beer has lots of folate and B12. Best of both worlds? We got ourselves into trouble when we learned how to distill it seems

[@tylergss]

If Huberman's intention is truly not to be misleading, then perhaps he should explain absolute vs relative risk in terms of cancer (hint: 4-13% does not mean 4-13% absolute risk). Hard to imagine he wouldn't know this. We're all slowly being robbed from the joys we find in life.

[@StephenMarkTurner]

Cue the alcohol supporters :-)

[@themikeroberts]

Most of the comments who disagree are actually people who don't understand how an increase in relative risk relates to an increase is absolute risk.

[@owenkariuki4438]

😂😂

[@DrAndrewHutchings]

What he said about Russia is complete BS. Average beer is the same alcohol % as average beer in the US, only difference is if you buy in a store you will probably buy at least a 500ml beer not a 330ml US sized beer. In restaurants beer comes in 300ml or 500ml typically. As for wine it tends to have less alcohol than many wines in the US and portion sizes are the same

[@sydneycates5425]

He did say because of the size difference AND alcohol content, I am failing to see what you are pointing out. A quick search of best-selling beers in Russia shows that they often have a higher alcohol content than American beers AND as you mentioned they are bigger in size.

[@DrAndrewHutchings]

@@sydneycates5425 I have first hand experience. They are a bit bigger, 500ml, no higher alcohol percentage. Wine and other alcoholic drinks have no higher alcohol and are not larger. The size difference of beers doesn't add up to the total difference he mentioned in this video

[@sydneycates5425]

@@DrAndrewHutchings Really because the sales statistics based on the most consumed beers in Russia begs to differ...

[@DrAndrewHutchings]

@@sydneycates5425 Yes really. I don't care what google or whatever says. I know reality

[@user-zb7tg5hi3t]

Says the alcoholic

[@third7715]

How do you explain moderate alcohol drinkers having significantly longer life expectancy than non drinkers then? This is a well documented fact in the UK.

[@Momfasa]

No it isnt. Look up correlation causation

[@jamesphillips523]

Waffle waffle- kerching 💵

[@Eysc]

Primero

[@Wendywonder123]

Does alcohol cause cancer or both are caused by the same underlying root cause? E.g. negativity thoughts can manifest as cancer and can be escaped temporarily through alcohol

[@Momfasa]

Did you watch the video?

[@pixelburnout]

4 to 13% relative risk? So if I have a 1 in 100 chance of getting cancer, worst case on moderate drinking is I'll have a 1.13 in 100 chance of getting cancer? Sounds like fearmongering to me. You scientist really don't have a clue. You can find just as many studies showing moderate drinking increases life expectancy😂

[@levinsonl]

fear gets followers...

[@777Thebear]

They base all of this of epidemiological studies which can't prove anything. Literally the very first thing you learn in school when learning about studies. In epidemiology correlation does not equal causation. They try to say the same crap about red meat which upon further studies not correlation was found.