Boobs and Booze

Chatting With A Breast Surgeon

Hey, I took this photo myself with stuff I had around my house, including a red hibiscus tea as a stand in for wine. Take your own pictures— it’s fun! Image ©Sea Shepard.

Welcome back to Chatting Is My Superpower, or CIMS. How to pronounce CIMS...not sure if that works. Like KIMS? Or SIMS? Anyhoo, last week, I chatted with a woman...let’s call her Dr. Teatotal, she’s a breast surgeon, AKA surgical oncologist (involves the surgical removal of breast tumors and lymph nodes while saving as much of the breast as possible). She’s now in research at a major university.

“What are some of the important things I should know about breast cancer?” I asked. As expected, she said healthy diet and exercise, but then...

“Alcohol consumption and breast cancer are linked,” she said. We met eyes.  “And I’m surprised that I’m the first person to tell people this news.” She looked stunned. Astonished. Gob smacked that so few people knew and understood this. She was waiting to see if I was one of those people.

“My therapist told me about some study linking drinking to breast cancer years ago,” I admitted. “But I thought that because I was only drinking wine with dinner, not hard liquor, it didn’t concern me.” I told her the only reason I quit drinking altogether was during the pandemic I had time to notice how it made me feel, and how wine impacted my sleep, made me sluggish the next day. About a year after I quit having wine with dinner, there was a small article in the New York Times linking booze with breast cancer on the back pages.

Dr. Teatotal and I agreed it should be front page news. Most people remember the article that linked moderate drinking to good health––that article went on to say up to two glasses a night, or something like that, was good for heart health. That one really stuck in my mind, that there were health benefits to drinking.

Who were the researchers behind the study linking moderate drinking to good health? Were the booze researchers, much like the three “sugar” researchers (google “how the sugar industry shifted blame to fat”) at Harvard back in 1967, sponsored by industry? The article linking up to two drinks per day to good health really “stuck with me” whereas the news that any hooch increases the risk of breast cancer did not sink in. I loved a good Cote Du Rhone, and on a hot summer day, an icy cold glass of Champagne or Crémant. If I hadn’t realized that drinking made for a rough night of sleep, would I have stopped? And why doesn’t the breast cancer/booze link get more coverage? Does industry manipulate the science writers at major newspapers with paid for studies?

My chat with Dr. Teatotal was short. Maybe I’ll see her again and I’ll think of more questions. And oh, obviously, Dr. Teatotal doesn’t drink.