A recent national cancer progress report found that excessive alcohol consumption is associated with an elevated risk for six different forms of cancer. Approximately one in every 19 cancer cases in 2019 were linked to alcohol consumption, yet according to Amy Comander, MD, medical director of Mass General Cancer Centre in Waltham, Massachusetts, more than half of all Americans are unaware that alcohol consumption can raise the risk of certain types of cancer.

Dr. Comander states, "We need to amplify the message that alcohol consumption can increase cancer risk." After smoking and obesity, alcohol use is the third most important modifiable risk factor for cancer, according to a recent research from the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR).

Alcohol Consumption and Cancer Risk

It's important to be aware that alcohol consumption is linked to an increased risk of six specific types of cancer: some forms of cancer in the head and neck, squamous cell cancer of the oesophagus, breast cancer, colorectal cancer, liver cancer, and cancers of the stomach. It's essential to keep this in mind when making decisions about alcohol consumption and its potential impact on health. Researchers believe that alcohol intake may contribute to the higher prevalence of cancer in younger Americans.

Alcohol consumption
Image Source: World Finance

According to a recent study that examined variations among adults born in the US between 1920 and 1999, the incidence of 17 out of 34 cancer types, including breast, pancreatic, and stomach cancers (colorectal cancer is classified as a stomach cancer), increased with younger generations, especially Millennials and Generation Xers. Death rates from a variety of malignancies also increased.

Over the past 20 years, alcohol consumption in the US has generally gone up at the same time. While the number of drinking teenagers and young adults is down, the number of midlife adults—particularly women—who consume more alcohol and engage in binge drinking is rising.
The authors of the study speculate that these increases may have long-term effects on health.

What do the experts claim?

According to Bubu Banini, MD, PhD, a member of the Yale Cancer Centre and the associate director of the Clinical and Translational Core of the Yale Liver Centre in New Haven, Connecticut, excessive alcohol consumption is associated with more than 200 different diseases.

She lists a number of illnesses that fall under this category, including brain damage, cognitive dysfunction, renal disease, liver disease, heart disease, and reproductive disorders. According to Dr. Banini, drinking may raise cancer risk in a number of ways. The body can transform alcohol into acetaldehyde, which damages cells and prevents them from repairing themselves. These cells may generate DNA errors that result in cancer as they attempt to repair the damage.

According to her, drinking alcohol can also raise oxidative stress, which damages cells and raises the risk of cancer. “Alcohol can also increase risk of cancer by impacting the body’s ability to absorb important nutrients which our body needs, including vitamin A, vitamin B complex, folate, vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin E, and carotenoids,” explains Comander. The research has changed, despite the fact that some specialists once thought that mild to moderate alcohol consumption (such as having a glass of red wine with dinner) was beneficial.

Nowadays, no amount of drinking is considered safe, according to health organisations like the World Health Organisation. "There is no safe amount of alcohol, so it is preferable to avoid it. We know that even one drink per day has been shown to increase breast cancer risk in women compared to those who do not drink, and the same is true for a variety of other illnesses," she says.

Women who drink three times per week are 15% more likely to develop breast cancer than women who do not drink at all. According to experts, each additional drink women consume on a daily basis increases their risk of developing breast cancer by 10%.

"Those who do not currently consume alcohol should not do so for any reason. This is especially true in the era of the obesity pandemic, as the combination of alcohol and obesity raises cancer risk," adds Banini.

The new AACR research highlights an opportunity to raise public awareness about the cancer risks linked with alcohol, according to Michael Pignone, MD, MPH, a primary care doctor at Duke Health in Durham, North Carolina, who attended the report's congressional briefing.

Primary care physicians, as a group, don't do a good job of questioning patients about harmful alcohol use or providing effective therapies or interventions for alcohol use disorder - and this needs to change, he said.

During the press conference, speakers also discussed potential measures for teaching people about the health consequences of alcohol and discouraging its use, such as warning labels, high costs, or additional taxes.

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