The danger of deliberately manipulating, falsifying or even lying when communicating important information is that many people will believe it, even though it is not true and this is harmful to many other people.
Something like this is what FIVIN believes has happened with the statements by Dr. Enriqueta Felip during the presentation of the report “Cancer figures in Spain 2023”, judging by the response given by this foundation in the field of health.
Thus, from the Foundation for Research on Wine and Nutrition they have expressed “concern at the statements by the president of the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology at the presentation of the report Cancer figures in Spain 2023”, which took place last Monday , January 30, in Madrid.
In her presentation to the press and collected in a subsequent press release, Dr. Felip alludes to the fact that “it is estimated that up to 4,600 cases of breast cancer per year in Europe are due to alcohol consumption of 1 glass of wine per day, figures that increase significantly with greater alcohol consumption”.
From FIVIN, they point out that taking “1 glass of wine a day” as a unit of measurement “does not display the scientific rigor that an entity like SEOM is assumed to have”.
For this reason, if the study referred to in the report is analyzed, “it can be verified that a glass of wine is a measurement unit that would correspond to the amount of alcohol that a glass of wine could have. In this sense, the report seeks to equivalence, but in no case does it point to wine as the sole cause”(1)they correct Felip from the foundation.
Also reprimanding him that “making such a statement gives rise to erroneous information that can be very harmful for the Spanish wine sector. A sector that has been actively working for many years in the fight against the abusive consumption of alcohol and the promotion of moderate consumption and responsible as the only possible way of enjoyment, in line with the European Plan to Fight Cancer”.
In this sense, the international program Wine in Moderation is an initiative promoted by the main world wine-producing countries that has been defending since the year 2000 that only moderate consumption of wine is the only way to enjoy it. In Spain, moreover, this program has its own Wine Commercial Communication Code, which highlights the clear and forceful commitment of the sector and its fight against alcohol abuse in society.
Wine consumption is not a cause of cancer
“We are concerned about the clear allusion to wine as a direct cause of cancer. Wine consumption is associated with moderation, a balanced diet within the framework of the Mediterranean Diet and a healthy lifestyle, and scientific evidence shows that its consumption responsible is not, in any way, associated with an increased risk to the health of consumers”, they clarify from FIVIN.
They further point out that “the extent of alcohol as a risk factor for cancer depends significantly on the amounts of alcohol consumed, the type of drink, consumption patterns and the context in which they are consumed. Cancer is a multifactorial disease and the risk of suffering from it cannot be evaluated in isolation”.
Studies suggest that lifestyle choices may influence cancer risk. The factors that contribute the most to cancer risk are smoking (30%), obesity (20%), infections (15%), lack of physical activity, an unhealthy diet, and occupational hazards (5% , respectively) and the abusive consumption of alcoholic beverages (3%), among others.
“The moderate and regular consumption of wine is a cultural factor present in a large number of societies, especially in the Mediterranean, which together with a rich and balanced diet could be the origin of the greater longevity observed in the countries in which the consumption of wine, during meals, is of great importance”, they remark from the health foundation.
For all these reasons, from FIVIN they make an appeal, requesting that “the debates that are generated around the consumption of wine and its possible effects focus on scientific evidence, which is what should prevail when transmitting this type of of information Our main mission is to contrast scientifically and objectively, the studies on wine and its nutritional properties, to bring to the population, especially the youngest, accurate information on the effects of wine consumption, always alluding to responsible and moderate consumption”.
(1) For instance, drinking the amount of alcohol you would find in just a single glass of wine* every day caused more than 4600 breast cancer cases in women in the WHO European Region WHO-EURO-2020-1435-41185-56004-eng.pdf
