In People with Cancer, Heavy Drinking is Common NCI

They also used an assessment tool, called AUDIT-C, that was developed to study drinking behavior. Overall, about 12,000 people in this group reported that they drink alcohol, and nearly 40% reported engaging in hazardous drinking—that is, repeated excessive alcohol use. Of those who may have been actively undergoing treatment for cancer, about 75% drank alcohol, many heavily. Alcohol is causally linked to many cancer types, but trends in alcohol consumption patterns change over time and between geographic regions.

New Report Highlights Overlooked Cancer Risk Factor: Alcohol

This small study will determine if we can undertake a large long-term follow-up study to explore the relationship between lifestyle and survival among large bowel cancer patients. At the start of the week, think about your social plans and set a limit for how much you’ll drink at each event. When alcohol is broken down in the body, compounds are formed that can directly damage the DNA, which can then lead to cancer. Professor Nancy Ip discusses her groundbreaking neuroscience research, focusing on neurotrophic factors and innovative Alzheimer’s disease treatment approaches. Our team is made up of doctors and oncology certified nurses with deep knowledge of cancer care as well as editors and translators with extensive experience in medical writing. The recommended limit is lower for women because of their smaller body size and because their bodies tend to break down alcohol more slowly.

Discussion of the Study Findings

As with most questions related to a specific individual’s cancer treatment, it is best for patients to check with their health care team about whether it is safe to drink alcohol during or immediately following chemotherapy treatment. 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. 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). They’re often called ‘empty calories’ because alcoholic drinks don’t contain any essential nutrients your body needs, such as protein, vitamins or fibre.

What’s the link between alcohol and cancer?

Along with these effects, alcohol may contribute to cancer growth in other, unknown ways. Alcohol and its byproducts can also damage the liver, leading to inflammation and scarring (cirrhosis). As liver cells try to repair the damage, they can end up with mistakes in their DNA, which could lead to cancer. Once in the body, alcohol can be converted into acetaldehyde, a chemical that can damage the DNA inside cells and has been shown to cause cancer in lab animals. Cells that are damaged by the alcohol may try to repair themselves, which could lead to DNA changes that can be a step toward cancer. “I try to normalize asking patients things like, if they’re drinking, how much and how they feel it affects them,” she explained.

In the United States alone, about 75,000 cancer cases and 19,000 cancer deaths are estimated to be linked to alcohol each year. Researchers and health professionals can do more to help break down these misconceptions, Dr. LoConte added. “We need to really make sure that we reinforce the message that all alcohol increases cancer risk,” she said. 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.

The participants were tracked for a median period of 11 years through linkage to health insurance records and death registers. 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. There are some cases during cancer treatment in which alcohol clearly should be avoided. For example, alcohol – even in very small amounts – can irritate mouth sores caused by some cancer treatments, and can even make them worse. Alcohol can also interact with some drugs used during cancer treatment, which might increase the risk of harmful side effects. It’s important to talk with your doctor fetal alcohol syndrome face celebrities about this if you are being treated for cancer.

Risks Associated with Different Types of Alcoholic Beverages

1. Alcoholic drinks contain different percentages of ethanol, but in general, a standard size drink of any type — 12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine, or 1.5 ounces of 80-proof liquor — contains about the same amount of ethanol (about half an ounce).
2. When alcohol is broken down in the body, compounds are formed that can directly damage the DNA, which can then lead to cancer.
3. It can also increase blood levels of estrogen, a sex hormone linked to breast cancer, and make the carcinogens found in tobacco smoke easier for the body to absorb.
4. As with most questions related to a specific individual’s cancer treatment, it is best for patients to check with their health care team about whether it is safe to drink alcohol during or immediately following chemotherapy treatment.
5. Eastern Asia and central and eastern Europe had the highest numbers of alcohol-related cancers in proportion to their populations, while northern Africa and western Asia had the lowest.
6. This superactive ADH enzyme speeds the conversion of alcohol (ethanol) to toxic acetaldehyde.

The fact that drinking alcohol can cause cancer has received increasing attention in the past few years. But the potential threat it poses to people with cancer and longer-term survivors has largely been overlooked, explained Tanya Agurs-Collins, Ph.D., of the Behavioral Research Program in NCI’s Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences. Over 4% of all new cancer cases in 2020 were attributable to alcohol consumption, according to a study published Tuesday in the journal The Lancet Oncology. Binge drinking—consuming five or more drinks within a few hours for men or four for women—is also likely more dangerous than any other type of drinking, Dr. Abnet explained.