Scientists have discovered yet another reason that alcohol might be good for you. Using pooled data from 12 studies and more than 750,000 subjects, researchers found that moderate alcohol consumption — about a drink a day — is associated with a decreased risk of renal cell carcinoma, one type of kidney cancer.
The researchers found that people who drank two-tenths of an ounce to one-half an ounce of alcohol a day — beer, wine or liquor — reduced their risk of renal cell cancer by 18 percent, and those who drank a half-ounce or more reduced their risk by 28 percent. There is about a half-ounce of alcohol in 1 ½ ounces of hard liquor, 12 ounces of beer or a 5-ounce glass of wine.
The study had limitations in that it lacked a measure of alcohol use over time, depended on self-reports and had no information on family history of renal cell cancer.
Jung Eun Lee, the lead author and a fellow at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, would not encourage anyone to start drinking. Rather, she said, maintaining a healthy weight and avoiding smoking are essential as the “principal means to reduce renal cell cancer.”
