Alcohol consumption linked to increased cancer risk

If you’d like to increase your risk of getting an array of cancers, a new study suggests you should hit the bottle.

Canadian researchers compared the drinking habits of 3,064 Montreal men who developed 13 kinds of cancer with the tendencies of 507 age-matched controls who were cancer-free. They found that consumption of beer, wine and spirits boosted the odds of developing many kinds of cancer. The association held up even after controlling for age, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, diet and smoking history.

Compared with people who had less than one drink per week, those who drank daily were nearly three times as likely to get esophageal cancer. Moderate drinkers (who consumed between one and six drinks per week) were 67% more likely to get stomach cancer, according to results published in the new issue of Cancer Epidemiology.

Heavy beer drinkers had a 53% increased risk of developing rectal cancer and were 46% times more likely to get lung cancer. People who imbibed spirits daily had more than three times the risk of liver cancer, more than twice the risk of pancreatic cancer, and a 66% increased risk of rectal cancer. Despite mounting evidence of the benefits of drinking wine, moderate wine drinkers had elevated odds of rectal and bladder cancer.

Most tellingly, the researchers also found a dose-response relationship -- that is, the heaviest drinkers were most at risk. Among people who consumed the most drinks for the most years, the risk of liver cancer was nearly eight times higher, and the risk of esophageal cancer was more than seven times as high. The biggest drinkers also had more than double the risk of pancreatic and rectal cancer and a more than 80% increased risk of prostate and colon cancer.

 “For the most part we showed that light drinkers were less affected or not affected at all,” lead author Andrea Benedetti, a researcher at McGill University in Montreal, said in a statement. “It is people who drink every day or multiple times a day who are at risk.”

It’s not particularly surprising that alcohol isn’t necessarily a health food, but researchers still don’t know why it seems to do so much damage. Benedetti and her colleagues from the University of Quebec and the University of Montreal noted that ingested alcohol breaks down into acetaldehyde, a known carcinogen that interferes with DNA repair. They also pointed out that heavy drinking could cause nutritional deficiencies or impair the immune system’s ability to fight cancer.

-- Karen Kaplan

Photo: Alcohol is not exactly a health food. Credit: Lori Shepler / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Adrian H]

After I read that smoking and drinking caused cancer - I gave up... reading.

These are pretty serious increases, I joke about how much I drink - "I drink to make other people interesting", this has given me pause to think... maybe I'll mull it over, with a beer.

[schweig]

Drat.

[Craig Anderson]

Why don't you tell us what new about this study? The connection between alcohol and cancer has been known for decades. A Pubmed search for ethanol and cancer yields 6725 articles, including a major review from 30 years ago in the journal Cancer:
Schottenfeld D. Alcohol as a co-factor in the etiology of cancer. Cancer. 1979 May;43(5 Suppl):1962-6.

[DanR]

Recent articles touted the taking of a few drinks per day to ward off Alzheimer's. It's nice to have a choice.

[SLBear]

Marijuana still doesn't cause cancer. Budweiser? Which one should be legal?

[Josh Effron]

They say that red wine helps prevent heart conditions, but alcohol causes cancer! So, to drink or not to drink, that is the question....

[Drew P.]

If theyre gonna put down drinking.... why they have to put sucha delicous picture on the article? makes me want a drink!

[Robert NO longer in LA]

Damned IF you do, damned IF you don't.... pour me another, Honey!!! I gotta die from something, and Alheimers is NOT the way to go....perhaps more pate and triple cream cheese would be best. Yes, with a Cal Cabernet, or a Washington Merlot or Zin.

[Eve]

SLBear, pretty much anything you shove into your body in copious amounts, will cause cancer it seems. Why don't you wait for some sort of "scientific research"? Oh wait, I know--weed cures EVERYTHING, and there are NO NEGATIVE SIDE EFFECTS? Mmm...incorrect.

[Misleading stats?]

Could we have some details on what the original percentage risks are rather than just the sensationalist increases please?

Which sounds scarier:
1. drinking increases your risk of cancer from 0.01% chance to 0.03% chance
2. drinking triples your risk of cancer

Without the original numbers, we can't make an informed decision, nor can you claim to have fulfilled your responsibilities as a 'news' outlet...

[Paul Naughton]

What a downer. Seems we can't have ANY fun anymore without it causing cancer or some horrible disease. Huge history of cancer in my family so I'm bound to get it anyway, so screw it; this information won't stop me from enjoying a few drinks with friends now and then as I'd rather enjoy myself on the way down.

[Robert]

1) Marijuana does cause cancer if it is smoked.
2) A 65% increase in an incredibly rare cancer is "statistically" significant, but not realistically significant. The only one with a significant risk seems to be esophageal cancer in heavy drinkers.

[eheuristic]

Alcohol is not good for are life and are children .
keep away form it .
thank you.

[Bernice]

Alcohol is made from the excrement of a living yeast organism. When the yeast is fed carbs in the form of grapes, hops, potatoes, corn etc., it digests it and excretes toxic alcohol. Yes, alcohol is YEAST POOP. The yeast itself is the first victim of the toxin waste it produces. The hilarious thing about it is that we are dumb enough to fall for the advertising that drinking this will make us healthy, smart, confident, sexy... We don't see the physiological damage including impotence and breast cancer and what it does to our unborn children. As my marketing profesor said, "With a big enough advertising budget, you can get people to do anything."

[Matt]

@Robert: smoked marijuana does not cause cancer. No study I've seen has shown any significant statistical link between marijuana and cancer.

But just so I'm not sounding biased, marijuana does have negative health problems associated with heavy use:
chronic bronchitis
heavy weazing
rattling chest sounds during a cold
increased phlegm

[Bill]

Yes, Bernice, ''Alcohol is made from the excrement of a living yeast organism.'' And, ''With a big enough advertising budget, you can get people to do anything." even to make them buy and eat fecal matter and poison; it is the case for alcohol, milk and dairies, as well as meat. 97% of chicken sold in U.S contains poop, and 78.6% of U.S ground beef.

[kt]

For more, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_and_cancer

[Cancer Discovery]

thanks : drinking increases your risk of CANCER from 0.01% chance to 0.03% chance