We had been feeling pretty smug about drinking a glass of red wine with dinner. It certainly helps to relieve stress and, some studies suggest, reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease and might extend life spans.

    So we were dismayed when epidemiologists at Oxford University recently concluded that women who drink even a moderate amount of alcohol — fewer than three drinks a day — increase their risk of contracting several cancers compared with women who drink no more than two drinks a week.

    The researchers studied almost 1.3 million middle-aged women who attended breast cancer screening clinics in Britain and were tracked for an average of seven years. Women who reported drinking moderate amounts of alcohol suffered an increased risk of cancers of the breast, liver, rectum and, among current smokers, the upper aero-digestive tract. Each additional drink increased the risk, and it did not matter whether the alcohol was red or white wine, beer or hard liquor.

    Not all of their conclusions were that grim. The study found that moderate drinking decreased the risk of thyroid cancer, renal cell cancer and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. More confusingly, it showed that women who weren’t drinking at all when the research started actually had a higher rate of cancer than women who drank up to six drinks a week.

    That hardly proves that moderate drinking cuts the risk of cancer, but it sure muddies the water. Although an American Cancer Society official found the study compelling, Donald A. Berry, chairman of biostatistics at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, considers it meaningless.

    No one has yet determined whether any potential cancer risks from moderate drinking outweigh the possible, though disputed, health gains from a glass of red wine. When the final tally of risks and benefits is in, let us hope there is room for women to have a convivial drink with friends or a romantic dinner with wine.

    在用餐的時候喝上一杯紅酒，我們會覺得相當的滿足。這樣當然能夠幫助我們舒緩壓力，而且一些研究也表明，這樣還能降低患上心血管疾病的風險，使得我們延年益壽。

    正因如此，當牛津大學的流行病學者最近總結出，那些即使每天飲酒適量，不超過三杯的女性，她們患上某些癌癥的風險都會大于那些一個星期都喝不上兩杯的女性的結論的時候，我們會感到沮喪。

    研究人員研究了接近一百三十萬的中年女性。這些女性在英國加入了乳腺癌調查診所，而且平均追蹤調查時間都長達七年。報告中指出，飲酒適量的女性患乳腺癌，肝癌，直腸癌的風險會更加，如果當中有吸煙者的話，更會增加患上上呼吸－消化道癌癥的風險。每一種酒都會增加這種風險，這與它們究竟是紅酒，白酒，啤酒或者是烈酒無關。

    其實并非所有結論都是那么的嚴峻。研究表明適量飲酒能夠降低患上甲狀腺癌，腎癌和非何杰金淋巴瘤的風險。更令人困惑的是，據說在調查一開始滴酒不沾的女性實際上患癌的幾率要比那些一星期喝六杯的女性來的要高。

    這確實很難證明適量飲酒能夠降低患癌的風險，但卻一定能夠混淆視聽。盡管一個美國癌癥協會認為這個研究能夠令人信服，但是在休斯頓的美國德克薩斯大學MD安德森癌癥中心的生物統計學主席，唐納德A.貝里卻認為這個研究是毫無意義的。

    目前還沒有人能夠確定飲酒適量是否真的能夠增加患上某些潛在癌癥的風險，盡管存在爭議，但是一杯紅酒還是可以使我們的健康收益。我們希望，當最終的風險和好處的統計數據出來的時候，我們能夠留有余地，讓女性朋友能夠和她們的朋友歡快的喝酒或者是享受一個浪漫的紅酒晚餐。