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> One of the more easily interpreted statistics given is that American women on average have a lifetime risk of developing breast cancer of about 12%, while wom

> One of the more easily interpreted statistics given is that American women on average have a lifetime risk of developing breast cancer of about 12%, while women that consume 2-3 drinks per day have a lifetime risk of about 15%. I find this interesting. By all means, people should be entitled to informed consent and allowed to make their own choices. But only a 3% increase? And that's if you're consuming 2-3 drinks a day? Doesn't seem all that significant. Meanwhile, being obese increases the chance of a myriad of cancers (including breast), yet talk of addressing the obesity epidemic (35% and climbing of the adult population is obese in America) is shouted down as nanny-state hysteria and "it's impossible to lose weight anyway."

pbhjpbhj 9y ago
Hormone based contraception apparently increases the risk of breast cancer by about 25% too. >And that's if you're consuming 2-3 drinks a day? Doesn't seem all that significant. // That was my take away, that's pretty heavy drinking, surely? Per your last para though, we can address more than one health situation at a time, and need to, it's not just USA with an obesity crisis; UK is deep in to that as well, and probably a lot of other countries.
- npsimons 9y ago
  > That was my take away, that's pretty heavy drinking, surely? Yes, that is the impression I received. > Per your last para though, we can address more than one health situation at a time My main point with my last paragraph is that people all too often focus inordinate effort on things that don't have the highest payback. Willpower, time, etc are all finite, so it's best to try to tackle the things with the greatest ROI first. As an analogy, if someone is paying 25% interest on a revolving balance (credit card) a month, it's best to focus on paying that off before making a second monthly payment on their 2.9% mortgage. Getting to a healthy weight reduces so many health risks, it's the logical first step in any health improvement plan. Although I don't have numbers to hand, I would not be surprised in the slightest if being obese increased the risk of breast cancer much much more than heavy drinking. Of course, one of the first things to do to lose weight is to cut back on alcohol consumption.
mrob 9y ago
>But only a 3% increase? 25% increase. 3 percentage points increase.
- npsimons 9y ago
  And if the risk was 1% naturally, but jumped to 2% with drinking, it would be a "100% increase". So?
wkalt 9y ago
In relative terms that's a 25% increase.
- npsimons 9y ago
  In relative terms, going from 1% to 2% would be a 100% "increase".
otempomores 9y ago
Are we getting fatophobic in here?

pbhjpbhj 9y ago

Hormone based contraception apparently increases the risk of breast cancer by about 25% too. >And that's if you're consuming 2-3 drinks a day? Doesn't seem all that significant. // That was my take away, that's pretty heavy drinking, surely? Per your last para though, we can address more than one health situation at a time, and need to, it's not just USA with an obesity crisis; UK is deep in to that as well, and probably a lot of other countries.

npsimons 9y ago
> That was my take away, that's pretty heavy drinking, surely? Yes, that is the impression I received. > Per your last para though, we can address more than one health situation at a time My main point with my last paragraph is that people all too often focus inordinate effort on things that don't have the highest payback. Willpower, time, etc are all finite, so it's best to try to tackle the things with the greatest ROI first. As an analogy, if someone is paying 25% interest on a revolving balance (credit card) a month, it's best to focus on paying that off before making a second monthly payment on their 2.9% mortgage. Getting to a healthy weight reduces so many health risks, it's the logical first step in any health improvement plan. Although I don't have numbers to hand, I would not be surprised in the slightest if being obese increased the risk of breast cancer much much more than heavy drinking. Of course, one of the first things to do to lose weight is to cut back on alcohol consumption.

mrob 9y ago

>But only a 3% increase? 25% increase. 3 percentage points increase.

npsimons 9y ago
And if the risk was 1% naturally, but jumped to 2% with drinking, it would be a "100% increase". So?

wkalt 9y ago

In relative terms that's a 25% increase.

npsimons 9y ago
In relative terms, going from 1% to 2% would be a 100% "increase".

otempomores 9y ago

Are we getting fatophobic in here?