Noelle LoConte, M.D., an oncologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who studies alcohol and cancer risk, said that these findings confirm what doctors have long observed. To date, no experimental evidence indicates that alcohol by itself can cause cancer—that is, that alcohol can act as a complete carcinogen. Over the past few decades, however, several animal studies have indicated that alcohol can have a cocarcinogenic, or cancer-promoting, effect. This means that when alcohol is administered together with other known cancer-inducing agents (i.e., carcinogens), it promotes or accelerates cancer development.
This meta-analysis found that alcohol most strongly increased the risks for cancers of the oral cavity, pharynx, esophagus, and larynx. Statistically significant increases in risk also existed for cancers of the stomach, colon, rectum, liver, female breast, and ovaries. Several mechanisms have been postulated through which alcohol may contribute to an increased risk of cancer. Concurrent tobacco use, which is common among drinkers, enhances alcohol’s effects on the risk for cancers of the upper digestive and respiratory tract. The analysis did not identify a threshold level of alcohol consumption below which no increased risk for cancer was evident. One of the strengths of this meta-analysis is that the investigators performed a separate analysis of studies that also reported estimates adjusted for tobacco use, which contributes to various forms of cancer, prominently lung cancer.
Cardiovascular disease is a general category that includes several specific conditions, and alcohol’s impact differs for the different conditions. For example, the effect of alcohol consumption on hypertension is almost entirely detrimental, with a dose-response relationship that shows a linear increase of the relative risk with increasing consumption (Taylor et al. 2009). A similar dose-response relationship exists between alcohol consumption and the incidence of atrial fibrillation4 (Samokhvalov et al. 2010b). On the other hand, for heart disease caused by reduced blood supply to the heart (i.e., ischemic heart disease), the association with alcohol consumption is represented by a J-shaped curve (Corrao et al. 2000), with regular light drinking showing some protective effects. The authors concluded that the cardio-protective effect of moderate alcohol consumption disappears when light to moderate drinking is mixed with irregular heavy-drinking occasions. A combined analysis of more than 200 studies assessing the link between alcohol and various types of cancer (i.e., a meta-analysis) sought to investigate this association in more detail.
Legal threats and challenges, complaints to individuals, their employers and governing bodies, also featured in both the tobacco and food sectors. Such methods can be used to stop researchers from publicizing their findings, and to stop advocates from pushing for public health interventions that would reduce tobacco use and sugar consumption. 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.
of cancers associated with modifiable risk factors
In fact, recent studies (Rehm and Parry 2009; Rehm et al. 2009a) found that the overall impact of alcohol consumption on infectious diseases is substantial, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Cancers of the esophagus and liver accounted for more than 340,000 alcohol-attributable cancers diagnosed in 2020. The researchers estimated that, overall, about 17% of liver cancer cases and 32% of esophageal cancer cases diagnosed in 2020 were attributable to alcohol use.
- The stomach of a hamster is divided into a portion that does not contain glands which secrete digestive enzymes (i.e., nonglandular forestomach) and a portion closer to the intestine that does contain such glands.
- To address these unknowns, researchers from Oxford Population Health, Peking University and the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, used a genetic approach by investigating gene variants linked to lower alcohol consumption in Asian populations.
- The association between various levels of alcohol consumption and an increased risk of liver cancer remains difficult to interpret even with the pooled data used in this meta-analysis.
- Part of this variability may result from differences in the characteristics of the subjects included in the studies.
Cardiovascular Diseases
Educating the public about the cancer risk from drinking alcohol, regardless of the beverage type, is especially urgent given the increase in strongest vodka in the world drinking during the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Klein said. Because cancer risk increases with the amount of ethanol consumed, all alcoholic beverages pose a risk. Numerous changes need to be made to raise public awareness of the fact that drinking alcohol raises the risk of several types of cancer. The plant secondary compound resveratrol, found in grapes used to make red wine and some other plants, has been investigated for many possible health effects, including cancer prevention.
More cancers could be prevented, she says, if people fully understood the risks of alcohol. Understanding these risks would lead to more fully informed decisions about alcohol use among individuals and families, including cancer survivors and those with a family cancer history. Thus, the researchers estimated that within 1 year, more than 350 deaths were attributed to drinking by others, and more than 10 million Australians (or 70 percent of all adults) were negatively affected by a stranger’s drinking (Laslett et al. 2010). For those looking to lower their alcohol-use-related cancer risk, Bilchik said a person’s biological sex and metabolism may play a role in this equation, too. However, barriers to certain prevention tools like vaccines and early screenings, as well as unhealthy lifestyle choices — such as excessive alcohol use — lead researchers to predict that more than 2 million new cases of cancer will be diagnosed in the U.S. in 2024. “If you’re pouring it yourself, a lot of people may not be doing things like using a shot glass to make a mixed drink at home.
The Risks Associated With Alcohol Use and Alcoholism
That’s a major concern with excessive alcohol consumption, that people aren’t honest with themselves,” said Dr. Abnet. I think there is a chunk of society that, if they knew about the risk, would drink differently,” she said. Overall, eastern Asia and central and eastern Europe had the highest proportions of cancer cases attributed to alcohol consumption, and northern Africa and western Asia had the lowest. Trends for women differed slightly, with the highest proportions of cancer cases attributed to alcohol consumption found in central, eastern, and western Europe; Australia; and New Zealand. Overall, the team found that about 741,300 cancer cases in 2020, or 4.1% of the global total for that year, could be attributed to alcohol consumption.
Limitations and Strengths of the Meta-Analysis
The Dietary Guidelines also recommends that people who drink alcohol do so in moderation by limiting consumption to 2 drinks or less in a day for men and 1 drink or less in a day for women. Heavy alcohol drinking is defined as having 4 or more drinks on any day or 8 or more drinks per week for women and 5 or more drinks on any day or 15 or more drinks per week for men. These amounts are used by public health experts in developing health guidelines about alcohol consumption and to provide a way for people to compare the amounts of alcohol they consume.
Research gaps also exist in understanding additive, synergistic or antagonistic effects of alcohol use in cancer prevention and control. Although this study did not present differences in the burden of cancer by type of alcoholic beverage consumed, the evidence suggests that cancer risk increases with consumption of any type of alcohol, whether it is beer, wine, or spirits. The increased risk of cancer among heavy drinkers is primarily attributed to the alcohol (chemically referred to as ethanol) in alcoholic beverages.
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 relationship between alcohol consumption and HIV infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is different from that with other infectious diseases. To become infected with HIV, people must exchange body fluids, in most cases either by injecting drugs with a contaminated needle or, more commonly in low-income societies, engaging in unsafe sex.