Lifestyle awareness campaigns have been effective in the past, with declining smoking rates being linked to reduced cancer rates. They found that the more alcohol people drink, the higher their risk of an alcohol-related cancer. Drinking at least two and as many as more than six drinks a day, defined as risky to heavy drinking, posed the greatest risk of a future cancer. Even moderate drinking, two or fewer drinks a day, accounted for an estimated 14%, or 103,000 cases, of alcohol-related cancers, according to the study.
Breast cancer in women came in third place for number of cases, with almost 100,000 cases (about 4% worldwide) attributable to alcohol use. “The breast cancer numbers are pretty high, just because breast cancer is so common,” Dr. LoConte explained. Researchers have explored trends over earlier time periods in previous studies and found similar associations. While alcohol consumption is declining in some areas of the world, such as parts of Europe, it’s on the rise in other areas, including China, India, and many sub-Saharan African nations.
It is possible, however, that for breast cancer and other types of cancer related to disturbances in female hormone levels, alcohol may act by altering the metabolism and blood levels of female hormones, such as estrogen (Longnecker 1994). Moreover, a recent study suggests that the association may be limited to women with a family history of breast cancer (Vachon et al. 2001). To control for this possibility, the investigators included separate analyses for men and women in their statistical models, where feasible. However, gender explained a significant portion of the observed variability in study results only for esophageal and liver cancer, but not for other types of cancers. Another limitation of this and other meta-analyses is that alcohol consumption levels may have been systematically underreported in several studies, leading to biased RR estimates. The results of eight appropriate studies were pooled to determine the relationship between alcohol consumption and the risk of cancer at all sites combined.
Alcohol Consumption and the Risk of Cancer
Alcohol use is not independent of other risk factors, therefore research projects addressing alcohol as a target for cancer prevention and control should consider a multi-behavioral framework along with multilevel influences on alcohol use. Where appropriate, investigators should consider co-occurrence of alcohol use with other cancer-related behavioral risk factors (e.g., tobacco use, sun exposure, physical activity, sleep disturbances) when designing interventions. Research gaps also exist in understanding additive, synergistic or antagonistic effects of alcohol use in cancer prevention and control. For a more detailed description of these statistical analyses, see the textbox, p. 265, and the articles by Corrao and colleagues (1999, 2000). The report authors called for increased efforts to help people make lifestyle changes that can reduce their cancer risk. About 1 in 5 cancer diagnoses are related to body weight, poor diet, alcohol use, and physical inactivity.
- The doctors and nurses administering the treatment will be able to give specific advice about whether it is safe to consume alcohol while undergoing specific cancer treatments.
- This superactive ADH enzyme speeds the conversion of alcohol (ethanol) to toxic acetaldehyde.
- A study published in December 2020 in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health showed that 60 percent of respondents reported increased drinking during the pandemic.
- For example, this means that someone who usually has three drinks a week could reduce their cancer risk by limiting themselves to two drinks a week instead.
- This wave of the Annenberg Science and Public Health Knowledge (ASAPH) survey was fielded Sept. 13–22 and Sept. 26–30, 2024.
How does alcohol affect the risk of cancer?
Such models can identify trends (e.g., J- or U-shaped curves) as well as other relationships between alcohol exposure levels and relative risks. The investigators then chose the best-fitting model to summarize the relation of interest (Corrao et al. 1999). Next, they assessed whether gender modified the effect of alcohol on the risk for cyclobenzaprine interactions with alcohol each neoplasm.
For example, one way the body metabolizes alcohol is through the activity of an enzyme called alcohol dehydrogenase, or ADH, which converts ethanol into the carcinogenic metabolite acetaldehyde, mainly in the liver. Recent evidence suggests that acetaldehyde production also occurs in the oral cavity and may be influenced by factors such as the oral microbiome (28, 29). A. For those looking to gauge how their alcohol behaviors could correlate to health outcomes, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has a great tool called Check Your Drinking. You input information about yourself and your alcohol behaviors, and it gives you personalized feedback.
„When we did the analysis and included former drinking, pancreatic and stomach cancers, the numbers increased to 925,000 alcohol-related cancers,“ she said. That’s an additional 185,000 possible alcohol-related cancers, or 5% of all the world’s cancers. About 5.5% of all new cancer diagnoses and 5.8% of all deaths from cancer are attributed to drinking alcohol, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The cancer types with the largest numbers of alcohol-attributable cases were oesophageal cancer, liver cancer, and female breast cancer. It is important to note that given the same amount of drinking, the increase in the risk for mortality from these diseases is greater than the increase in risk for morbidity, especially at lower levels of consumption.
Similarly, synergistic effects have been reported between high alcohol consumption and dietary factors, such as low consumption of fruits and vegetables. In the United States, a standard drink frequently is defined as 0.5 ounces (oz) or 14 grams of pure alcohol. This alcohol amount is found in 12 fluid oz of beer, 5 fluid oz of wine, and 1.5 fluid oz of 80-proof distilled spirits. Many individuals of East Asian descent carry a version of the gene for ADH that codes for a „superactive“ form of the enzyme. This superactive ADH enzyme speeds the conversion of alcohol (ethanol) to toxic acetaldehyde.
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At least 4% of the world’s newly diagnosed cases of esophageal, mouth, larynx, colon, rectum, liver and breast cancers in 2020, or 741,300 people, can be attributed to drinking alcohol, according to a new study. “We’ve known about this connection for more than 30 years; this is not our first conversation on the topic,” she said. Indeed, WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer first classified alcoholic beverages as carcinogenic in 1987. Since then, there is now sufficient scientific evidence showing that alcohol plays a causal role in cancers of the upper aerodigestive tract (including oral, pharynx, and larynx cancers, as well as squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus), breast, colorectum, and liver.
It likely plays an important role in the development of cancers of the digestive tract, especially those of the upper digestive tract (Lachenmeier et al. 2009; Seitz and Becker 2007). Another enzyme, called aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2), metabolizes toxic acetaldehyde to nontoxic substances. Some people, particularly those of East Asian descent, carry a variant of the gene for ALDH2 that encodes a defective form of the enzyme. In people who produce the defective enzyme, acetaldehyde builds up when they drink alcohol. Alcohol usage particularly increases the risk for colorectal, liver, stomach, breast, head, neck, and throat cancers. An estimated 1 in 20 cancers in the U.S. were attributed to alcohol use in 2019, the report stated, noting that starting drinking at an early age increases cancer risk later in life.