What do preserved fetal pigs and your Friday night cocktail at Rough Draft have in common? Cancer risk.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer classifies alcohol as a Group 1 cancer-causing agent alongside tobacco, asbestos, and formaldehyde. These links initially surfaced in 1988, but were reaffirmed in 2007 and 2010.
Christians often advise limited to moderate alcohol consumption in avoidance of sinful drunkenness. Scripture calls us to “not be drunk with wine, wherein is debauchery” (Ephesians 5:18), “for the heavy drinker and the glutton will come to poverty” (Proverbs 23:21).
The classically educated might recall the words of Aristotle who describes virtue as a mean between the vices of excess and deficiency.
But some things are harmful no matter how much is consumed. Excessive drinking may lead to physical dependence and spiritual poverty, but that doesn’t mean “moderate” drinking isn’t dangerous.
To explore what moderation with alcohol should look like, Southeastern Baptist Seminary Research Professor of New Testament and Biblical Theology Charles Quarles wrote on the ancient practice of winemaking and its associated biblical context.
Importantly, wine at the time was diluted with at least double the amount of water, rendering the alcohol content around 3%. For comparison, Title 67 of the Mississippi Code names wine containing 5% of alcohol or less a nonalcoholic beverage.
“Eighty-proof whiskey has an alcohol content that is 1330% more potent than biblical wine,” Quarles wrote in a 2021 article.
Appropriate moderation is difficult to define when the baselines of normal alcohol content are hardly comparable.
“The cautions of the New Testament and early Christian literature reasonably translate to a call for abstinence from the more powerful alcoholic beverages consumed today,” Quarles wrote.
Quarles takes a strong stance, but it’s definitely one to consider whether or not you are Christian.
Understanding alcohol’s breakdown in the body and its associated risks also helps determine how much an individual may want to consume. Once laid out, the evidence suggests consuming no alcohol will always be better for your body than drinking, even moderately.
In an August 2022 podcast, Stanford School of Medicine Professor of Neurobiology Andrew Huberman describes the toxic effects of alcohol and why it can be carcinogenic with long-term use.
The body metabolizes alcohol into a toxic compound called acetaldehyde. Put plainly, acetaldehyde is poison. It kills and damages cells indiscriminately. Since alcohol is both water-soluble and fat-soluble, it can penetrate all tissues of the body.
The body breaks down into acetate, a negligible fuel for the body. Huberman said this process is metabolically costly. If the body cannot do the conversion from ethanol to acetate fast enough, acetaldehyde will build up and cause more damage to your body — both in inebriation and long-term.
“It is the poison, the acetaldehyde, that leads to the effect of being inebriated or drunk,” Huberman said. “Being drunk is actually a poison-induced disruption in the way that your neural circuits work.”
The pleasure of intoxication many people describe is not a happy thing for the cells. The poison of acetaldehyde disrupts the mood wiring in the brain. And with chronic alcohol use, the brain loses its ability to control impulsive behavior, even when completely sober. Chronic drinking can change the brain circuits that affect the ability to self-govern. These effects can be reversible, but not for those who have been chronically drinking for many years.
“There has been proposed to be anywhere from a 4% to 13% increase in risk of cancer, particularly breast cancer, for every 10 grams of alcohol consumed,” Huberman said. “In the U.S., one 12-ounce beer, one glass of wine, or a shot of liquor tends to include about 10-12 grams of alcohol.”
Losing control in moments of inebriation could harm others. Words and actions cannot be taken back. It’s much easier to not need forgiveness than to beg for it. Chronic alcohol consumption, which is only an average of 1-2 drinks per night, can make a tragic hypothetical scenario real.
In this life, we are called to community with other people. If bonding over a beverage helps build that community, that can be a beautiful thing. But alcohol should not become the common denominator of a relationship.
It’s clear alcohol causes damage at every sip. No amount of it will be healthy for you. But a glass of champagne on a special occasion, a beer with an old friend, or wine at communion, will not kill you.
There’s relative risk with many things we do in life, but no one can calculate risk out of the equation. So be wise when it comes to alcohol consumption. Ask yourself why you’re drinking and if the harm is worth the why. Often, it isn’t.
Lauren Bixler is a sophomore studying politics.
