Alcohol Can Cause Irreversible Genetic Damage To Stem Cells, Says Study (theguardian.com)

A new study, published on Wednesday, states that drinking alcohol produces a harmful chemical in the body which can lead to permanent genetic damage in the DNA of stem cells, increasing the risk of cancer developing. From a report: The research, using genetically modified mice, provides the most compelling evidence to date that alcohol causes cancer by scrambling the DNA in cells, eventually leading to deadly mutations. During the past decade, there has been mounting evidence of the link between drinking and the risk of certain cancers. "How exactly alcohol causes damage to us is controversial," said Prof Ketan Patel, who led the work at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge. "This paper provides very strong evidence that an alcohol metabolite causes DNA damage [including] to the all-important stem cells that go on to make tissues." The study builds on previous work that had pinpointed a breakdown product of alcohol, called acetaldehyde, as a toxin that can damage the DNA within cells. However, these earlier studies had relied on extremely high concentrations of acetaldehyde and used cells in a dish rather than tracking its effects within the body.

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tongs and hammer

[epine]

Alcohol below the 'hangover' level is about as bad for you as sugar.

Sugar: The Bitter Truth — 2009, 7.5 million views

The Hacking of the American Mind with Dr. Robert Lustig — 2017

John Yudkin: the man who tried to warn us about sugar — 2014

If you look up Robert Lustig on Wikipedia, nearly two-thirds of the studies cited there to repudiate Lustig's views were funded by Coca-Cola.

Many serious people now believe that excess fructose (which is metabolized in the liver through much the same pathway as ethanol) is the largest single causal component to the metabolic syndrome epidemic, which is itself one of the largest single causes of runaway healthcare costs in the United States.

Salt, Sugar, Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us by Michael Moss — 2013

He interviewed hundreds of current and former food industry insiders — chemists, nutrition scientists, behavioural biologists, food technologists, marketing executives, package designers, chief executives and lobbyists.

What he uncovered is chilling: a hard-working industry composed of well-paid, smart, personable professionals, all keenly focused on keeping us hooked on ever more ingenious junk foods; an industry that thinks of us not as customers, or even consumers, but as potential "heavy users".

How the Food Makers Captured Our Brains — 2009

As head of the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. David A. Kessler served two presidents and battled Congress and Big Tobacco. But the Harvard-educated pediatrician discovered he was helpless against the forces of a chocolate chip cookie.
...
Foods rich in sugar and fat are relatively recent arrivals on the food landscape, Dr. Kessler noted. But today, foods are more than just a combination of ingredients. They are highly complex creations, loaded up with layer upon layer of stimulating tastes that result in a multisensory experience for the brain. Food companies "design food for irresistibility," Dr. Kessler noted. "It's been part of their business plans."

Sugar is the tongs and the hammer.

As Lustig once said (from memory): given the choice between sugar and alcohol, I'll take alcohol, because you can only drink yourself under the table once a day.