By the way... to drink or not to drink—what’s a girl to do?

MANY women will have experienced a shudder of anxiety — and a fair amount of confusion — with last week’s news that drinking even quite small amounts of wine increases the risk of breast cancer.

Most people are aware that drinking alcohol in excessive amounts leads to adverse effects such as liver disease, heart muscle damage, increased cancer risk and injury to brain cells and other parts of the nervous system.

But confusion reigns as drinking in moderation has health benefits, especially in relation to heart disease.

Most of us have heard of the French paradox — deaths from coronary artery disease are lower in France than they should be, given the high level of tobacco use and saturated fat consumption. This is probably because of the amount of red wine they drink. It’s thought flavonoids and other compounds in grape skins have a protective, antioxidant effect, as well as being anti-blood clotting.

In a study of 86,000 nurses, the death rate was lowest in those who had one to three drinks a week, though most would see this as a low level of consumption.

But then the benefit of even a small amount of alcohol must be set against the effect of alcohol on other diseases — such as cancer — and that balance may well vary in different age groups.

For example, in a young woman the risk of coronary artery disease may be very low, and the increased risk of pushing up the chances of breast cancer may outweigh any possible benefits for the heart.

Yet the balance might be the opposite in middle-aged women — we just don’t know. And apart from cancer, there are other problems associated with anything more than the most minimal levels of drinking. A study of 6,000 men and 11,000 women showed people who drink more than two units of alcohol daily (a 175 ml glass of 12 per cent wine) have an increased risk of fractures compared with non-drinkers — three units doubles the risk. And now we know drinking three glasses of wine a day increases the risk of breast cancer by more than 40 per cent (one glass raises it by 5 per cent), so what is a girl to do? You could shrug, throw caution to the wind and carry on with what you are doing — or only ever drink one glass. A girl can’t be too rich or too thin, we heard years ago, but I would add ‘or too sober’. Hmm, but being too thin comes with medical problems . . .