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. Although the Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend women limit alcohol intake to up to one drink daily, even this moderate level of consumption can be harmful. A standard drink contains 14 grams of alcohol, which is found in 12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine and 1.5 ounces of distilled spirits. “The benefits of participating in Dry January lie in promoting the long-time reduction of alcohol consumption (breaking the habit of drinking), particularly for heavy drinkers,” Dr. Vasilou said. The study team used DNA samples from approximately 150,000 participants (roughly 60,000 men and 90,000 women) in the China Kadoorie Biobank study and measured the frequency of the low-alcohol tolerability alleles for ALDH2 and ADH1B. The data were combined with questionnaires about drinking habits completed by participants at recruitment and subsequent follow-up visits.
- Alcohol might affect the body’s ability to absorb some nutrients, such as folate.
- When you drink alcohol, your body breaks it down into a chemical called acetaldehyde.
- Evidence suggests that chronic and heavy alcohol consumption can irritate the lining of your stomach, leading to inflammation and damage to the cells.
- Alcohol affects estrogen levels by changing the way the body metabolizes them.
- However, based on more recent, comprehensive studies, public health experts now generally agree that alcohol—including wine—does not have a so-called “cardioprotective” effect.
The most common histological subtype of liver cancer is hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and around 154,700 cases of HCC in 2020 were attributable to alcohol consumption [1]. When restricted to HCC only, meta-analysis of WCRF sources resulted in a 14% increased risk of HCC (RR 1.14 (95% CI 1.04–1.25)) per 10 g alcohol per day [7]. However, a possible threshold effect was observed in the non-linear dose-response analysis by WCRF, where less than 45 g alcohol per day did not significantly increase the risk of liver cancer. This was similar to the findings of Bagnardi and colleagues where light or moderate drinking did not significantly increase liver cancer risk but risk among heavy drinkers doubled (RR 2.07 (95% CI 1.66–2.58)) [8].
Can alcohol cause stomach cancer?
“Fewer than one in three Americans recognize alcohol as a cause of cancer,” says Harriet Rumgay, researcher at the International Agency for Research on Cancer, the specialized cancer agency of the World Health Organization. “That’s similar in other high-income countries, and it’s probably even lower in other parts of the world.” Launched in 2018, All of Us captures information on participants’ lifestyle and other behaviors and personal background via comprehensive surveys. Participants can also allow access to their electronic health records (with all identifying information removed), providing important insights on treatments received and other relevant health information. But the All of Us study, Dr. Cao and her colleagues explained, offered a unique opportunity to take a robust look at people in these groups in the United States. Community strategies can help communities create environments that reduce excessive alcohol use.
Low to moderate alcohol use in healthy adults
However, the researchers did explain that giving up alcohol for only 1 month, and then continuing to drink, will probably not impact cancer risk. To experience the health benefits, quitting alcohol entirely must continue beyond 4 weeks. Lowering alcohol intake also lowers the amount of acetaldehyde in the body. The significantly greater risks seen in men carrying the low-alcohol tolerability ALDH2 gene variant who still drank regularly suggests that greater accumulation of acetaldehyde may directly increase cancer risk. 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 results have been published today in the International Journal of Cancer.
But it has been difficult to establish whether alcohol directly causes cancer, or if it is linked to possible confounding factors (such as smoking and diet) that could generate biased results. It was also unclear whether alcohol is linked to other types of cancer, including lung and stomach cancers. You may have heard that drinking alcohol can be good for the heart or help lower blood pressure. But NHS guidance on alcohol states that the evidence for any health benefits from alcohol is not clear. Research has shown there is no completely safe level of drinking, and the risk of cancer increases from drinking even small amounts of alcohol. For each of these cancers, the more alcohol you drink, the higher your cancer risk.
3. Colorectal Cancer
According to a new perspective article from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), people who stop drinking alcohol can lower their risk of developing certain cancers. Studies show drinking low to moderate amounts of alcohol may be linked to a lower risk of heart disease, high blood pressure and death [24-25]. While individual susceptibility to alcohol-related stomach cancer may vary, it’s important to exercise caution regarding alcohol consumption.
Alcohol and Cancer
“That’s because we didn’t include former drinkers in our main analysis, even though they may have an increased risk of cancer,” says Rumgay. They also looked only at cancers where the risk factor has been scientifically shown to increase with alcohol use. They didn’t include cancers for which emerging evidence suggests are likely linked to alcohol, such as pancreatic and stomach cancers.
And although people who identified as Hispanic were less likely than White participants to report drinking alcohol, those who did drink were more likely to drink heavily. Of people who reported a history of cancer, 11,815 (78%) said they drank alcohol. The researchers categorized alcohol use based on responses to several alcohol-specific questions. They also used an assessment tool, called AUDIT-C, that was developed to study drinking behavior. Using the data from All of Us does come with some limitations, they acknowledged, including that cancer diagnoses were self-reported and couldn’t be verified in every case. And because of the study’s nature, it can also create certain “biases” in the data that may affect its accuracy or how relevant it is to the larger population of people with cancer and long-term survivors.
Because cancer risk increases with the amount of ethanol consumed, all alcoholic beverages pose a risk. However, public awareness of this risk is lower than for other carcinogens. The public is largely unaware of the link between alcohol consumption and increased cancer risk. Tobacco and alcohol both increase the risk of cancer, but when used together they increase the risk of cancer even more. This is because tobacco and alcohol have a combined effect that causes greater damage to our cells. There are a few biological pathways that lead from alcohol consumption to a cancer diagnosis, according to the study.
But for some types of cancer, most notably breast cancer, consuming even small amounts of alcohol can increase risk. 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.
7. Reduced Function of the Immune System
It’s not always easy to eat and drink healthily, but we’ve got lots of tips to help you make healthy changes. People should consider discussing their alcohol use with a healthcare team to understand the specific implications for their treatment and overall health. For instance, variations in genes related to estrogen wine abuse, addiction, and treatment options metabolism and response can modify the risk in females who consume alcohol. Some people have variants in different genes, such as the alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) and aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) genes. Despite this, the question of beneficial effects of alcohol has been a contentious issue in research for years.
The study also found that people who believed drinking alcohol increased the risk of heart disease were more aware of the alcohol–cancer risk than those who were unsure or believed drinking lowered the effect on heart risk. When they further analyzed their data incorporating former drinkers and including the two cancers possibly linked to alcohol, the numbers went up significantly. “When we did the analysis and included former drinking, pancreatic and stomach cancers, the numbers increased to 925,000 30 powerful womens recovery memoirs to inspire your own journey alcohol-related cancers,” she said. That’s an additional 185,000 possible alcohol-related cancers, or 5% of all the world’s cancers. 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 study in the July 13 edition of Lancet Oncology. Of the 172,600 alcohol-related cancer cases diagnosed in women, the vast majority, or 98,300 cases, were breast cancer.
Additionally, the cytokine IL-6 stimulates production of the anti-apoptotic protein Mcl-1, thus avoiding cell death and exposing the cell to further DNA damage [35]. The future potential of MR studies is yet to be discovered but disclosing potential sources of biases and confounding in observational studies is necessary to obtain robust estimates of the causal relationship between alcohol consumption and cancer risk. Researchers and health professionals can do more to help break down these misconceptions, Dr. LoConte added.
A study published in 2023 found widespread mistaken beliefs that the risk varies by beverage type, with the lowest cancer risk assigned to wine. Another study published in 2021 showed that nearly 70% of people did not even know that alcohol was a cancer risk factor. In the study, many people being treated for cancer and longer-term cancer survivors reported regularly drinking alcohol—many moderately, but some also heavily and often. According to the study’s findings, male long-term survivors and younger people being treated for cancer were among those who were particularly likely to be heavy or frequent drinkers.
People might talk about some alcoholic drinks being better or worse for you than others. But all types of alcohol increase the risk of cancer – as it’s the alcohol itself that causes damage, even in small amounts. 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, art therapy for addiction 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. 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.
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. However, they may not reflect the typical serving sizes people may encounter in daily life. It’s also important to note that those who continue to smoke and drink during laryngeal cancer treatment are less likely to be cured. Dr Suman S. Karanth, Senior Consultant – Medical Oncology, Fortis Hospital, Gurgaon told Financial Express.com that the link between alcohol consumption and bowel cancer is well-established.
