The BBC star told Davina McCall’s podcast listeners that she was forced her to re-examine her relationship to alcohol
TV star Julia Bradbury said one “very scary fact” shared by her doctor made her cut out alcohol to maximise her chances of remaining in remission after her breast cancer diagnosis.
Speaking on Davina McCall’s “Begin Again” podcast, the TV presenter said that despite being known for “drinking people under the table” before her mastectomy she now has only “one glass of bubbly” on her birthday each year.
This is because Professor Gareth Evans, a breast cancer expert, scared her off alcohol for life by telling her “if you drink more than 6 units a week – your risk of re-occurrence goes up by 28 per cent.”
However, your risk shrinks to between six and ten per cent if you drink under that many units. Alcohol can cause a surge of oestrogen in women, according to the National Institute for Health, and this oestrogen can inflate your risk of breast cancer.
But she said giving it up “wasn’t hard because of [her] children.” This being said, there is still the one treat she will allow herself a year. She said: “I now allow myself one glass of bubbles once a year on my birthday.”
For Bradbury, this fact alone was enough, she said “It was like okay – I’m not drinking anymore.” Speaking of her past drinking habits she said:”I don’t know if I was an alcoholic – they would say ‘she can drink anyone under the table.’ I was addicted to alcohol – the good bits of it.”
Bradbury added that she makes this rare treat “as dry as possible” because the negative health effects are then lesser. She also went on to bust the myth that different alcohols have different impacts on our health – she said “it’s not the colour or shape or flavour its the alcohol.”
She urged people to heed her advice and said that there is a wealth of information out there that can reduce people’s chance of cancer. She said: “A lot of it is very accessible information – my feeling is if people know about it they can do something about it.”
Bradbury’s post cancer lifestyle changes have also include some habits she took from ancient Greece. She said she enjoys walking every day, calling it the “gateway exercise” that does wonders for her mental health. Bradbury added: “The ancient Greeks had walking schools – its where a lot philosophy came from – they were walking and talking.
“Einstein went for three hour walks every day and then he sat there – and he thought. When do we do that?. She urged people to “listen to nature – find some quiet time and think about stuff.”
