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Medicine

Alcohol Can Increase Your Cancer Risk, Researchers Find (cbsnews.com) 93

Posted by EditorDavid from the bottom's-up dept.
The world's oldest and largest cancer research association "found excessive levels of alcohol consumption increase the risk for six different types of cancer," reports CBS News: "Some of this is happening through chronic inflammation. We also know that alcohol changes the microbiome, so those are the bacteria that live in your gut, and that can also increase the risk," Dr. Céline Gounder, CBS News medical contributor and editor-at-large for public health at KFF Health News, recently said on "CBS Mornings."

But how much is too much when it comes to drinking? We asked experts what to know. "Excessive levels of alcohol" equates to about three or more drinks per day for women and four or more drinks per day for men, Gounder said... Other studies have shown, however, there is no "safe amount" of alcohol, Gounder said, particularly if you have underlying medical conditions. "If you don't drink, don't start drinking. If you do drink, really try to keep it within moderation," she said.

Dr. Amy Commander, medical director of the Mass General Cancer Center specializing in breast cancer, told CBS News alcohol is the third leading modifiable risk factor that can increase cancer risk after accounting for cigarette smoking and excess body weight. [Other factors include physical inactivity — and diet]. "There really isn't a safe amount of alcohol for consumption," she said. "In fact, it's best to not drink alcohol at all, but that is obviously hard for many people. So I think it's really important for individuals to just be mindful of their alcohol consumption and certainly drink less."
The article also includes an interesting statistic from the association's latest Cancer Progress Report: from 1991 to 2021 there's been a 33% reduction in overall cancer deaths in the U.S. That's 4.1 million lives saved — roughly 136,667 lives saved each year.

"So that is hopeful," Commander said, adding that when it comes to preventing cancer, alcohol is just "one piece of the puzzle."
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Alcohol Can Increase Your Cancer Risk, Researchers Find More

Alcohol Can Increase Your Cancer Risk, Researchers Find

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  • Obligatory Joe Jackson Reference (Score:3)

    by Seven Spirals ( 4924941 ) on Saturday September 28, 2024 @12:52PM (#64824125)
    Everything Gives You Cancer [youtube.com]. Yep, there's no cure, there's no answer!

    • In short, there are no guarantees in life. You all end up under the dirt.

      You can take precautionary steps to stave it of.

      But that's just what they are. PRECAUTIONARY. Not a "cure"

      Because REALITY hates you and is trying, earnestly to kill you (some more earnestly than others.)

  • Alcohol is a (pleasant) poison (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Baron_Yam ( 643147 ) on Saturday September 28, 2024 @01:04PM (#64824143)

    If you drink enough to enjoy it, you're past the point where your body is keeping up with filtering it out of your system as quickly as it is introduced.

    You're stressing your system when you do that. Excessive stresses cause premature aging and, eventually, cancer.

    Unfortunately, everything you do stresses you in one way or another. Somehow you have to figure out how to balance enjoying life with the odds that what you're enjoying will end you earlier that you might otherwise die. I know I can't do that math, so I'd tend to listen to the experts.

    Don't drink unless you really enjoy it, and even then don't drink alcohol in large quantities. Getting obviously drunk is almost certainly drinking too much.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      If you drink enough to enjoy it, you're past the point where your body is keeping up with filtering it out of your system as quickly as it is introduced.

      You're stressing your system when you do that. Excessive stresses cause premature aging and, eventually, cancer.

      Unfortunately, everything you do stresses you in one way or another. Somehow you have to figure out how to balance enjoying life with the odds that what you're enjoying will end you earlier that you might otherwise die. I know I can't do that math, so I'd tend to listen to the experts.

      Don't drink unless you really enjoy it, and even then don't drink alcohol in large quantities. Getting obviously drunk is almost certainly drinking too much.

      Everything that's fun or tastes good will kill you so be miserable to guarantee yourself a long life ... of misery.

      • Or, I dunno, find some other way to enjoy yourself that doesn't involve drugs. You don't need to drink to enjoy yourself, and if you think you do, you likely already have a dependency.

        • LOL. You are really live in your parents' basement, don't you? Let say you skip booze and instead entertain yourself with dance. Guess what, sometimes people fall while dancing and break foot or something. And then you need surgery. Surgery isn't 100 % safe, even very ordinary procedures comes with some risks. So you operate your broken foot and complications occur and you die (or have to amputate the foot or something).

          Everything come with risks. Not getting enough sun because you live in a basement is a r

      • Everything that's fun or tastes good will kill you so be miserable to guarantee yourself a long life ... of misery.

        We've heard that dumb joke a million times and it's just abysmally stupid. Alcohol is a poison. There's no "good" dosage...just a matter if you want to do minor harm or major harm. Your life is always better if you don't drink.

        You want to drink? I'm not your mom...just own it like a grown up and say "I am choosing to ingest a chemical that is poisonous at any dose because I am a free adult and it's my choice." If you say anything else, you're full of shit. Fuck off with this "we all gotta die of som

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by matmos ( 8363419 )
        that's a huge exaggeration and not really true at all. Sure there are plenty of things that taste good that will shave years off, but there are plenty of thing that taste good that are known to be healthy.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by kackle ( 910159 )
      Yes, it breaks down into acetaldehyde, which is a carcinogen.
    • Water is also a poison, its LD50 is 90g/kg. The trick, as with everything in life, is to do things in moderation. The evidence that there is "no safe level" of alcohol is dodgy in the extreme since it includes non-medical risks e.g. fatalities from road accidents that can be entirely mitigated by not drinking and driving unlike genuine medical risks that you have no control over.

      Excessive levels of anything is dangerous - that is why it is called excessive. Evidence that "excessive levels" of alcohol are

      • Water is also a poison

        That's as silly remark as a "gotta die from something"

        Water is in fact the most healthy drink. And alcohol has no "healthy dose." There's that.

        At best, alcohol is more fun in the short term. Let's not consider the day after, let alone 20 years after.

        • And alcohol has no "healthy dose." There's that.

          No there is not that because that claim comes from one paper that included non-medical injuries and fatalities caused by people acting illegally after consuming alcohol - indeed it was not clear to me whether they included the deaths of the people killed by drunk drivers who had not even consumed the alcohol themselves.

          If we are going to include that sort of thing then water is going to get a lot more lethal due to all the drowning deaths it causes. Yes, incuding those would be stupid for assessing the

        • For most of human history, alcoholic drinks have been safer to drink than water. You live in luxury if water is healthier and potable water is cheap. Just go camping for a few days to see how âoeeasyâ getting (clean) water would be in the long term.

      • Ban Dihydrogen monoxide!

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by danda ( 11343 )

      It's not even pleasant for me. I can't stand the smell or taste of alcohol. And it generally gives me a headache if I imbibe it anyway. So now I generally do not.

      I think a lot of people are like me and don't enjoy drinking alcohol at all, they do it mainly to "fit in" at social gatherings, due to lack of self-confidence.

      • >don't enjoy drinking alcohol at all, they do it mainly to "fit in" at social gatherings, due to lack of self-confidence.

        Alcohol, social lubricant.

        Unfortunately, it brings down your inhibitions and a lot of people turn out to be assholes who have been keeping that under control all the time while sober.

    • But how else are miserable 'Muricans going to "self-medicate" their woes away affordably? Hard drugs & prescription medicines are expensive!

  • Anything good is bad for you. Where do you think the phrase the devil sends a limo, Jesus makes you walk come from?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by gweihir ( 88907 )

      Well, life is bad for you. It causes the most deadly condition (100% mortality rate) of them all: Ageing. If you are sane, then you stay informed and make reasonable risk management decisions, but that is it.

      Also, living long is not a benefit if you do nothing worthwhile with that time. Or if you do less than you could have done living shorter.

    • Buddha enlightens you to call a taxi.
  • This has been in the mainstream media for over a decade
  • Is there actual firm evidence for how inflammation and gut biom cause cancer or is this speculation? It appears that this is another one of those "risk factors" that is applying the characteristics of a population to the individuals in it. What the stats likely show is that the population of people who drink has more proportionally more people who have cancer than the population of people who don't drink. They no doubt have adjusted the statistics to "account" for known causes such as tobacco use. But that

    • There's a mountain of evidence that alcohol fucks up the liver (when your liver processes alcohol it produces toxic chemicals that cause damage primarily to itself and other places). That alone signs you up to play cancer Russian roulette. If the liver is damaged, and isn't functioning at 100%, that means your body has an elevated toxin load. That toxin load, one has to believe is damaging to cells and DNA.

      Alcohol ----fucks up the liver (via many pathways, but most relevantly the ADH enzyme breaks it down i

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by dfghjk ( 711126 )

        "That alone signs you up to play cancer Russian roulette."
        Citation please. Your religion is not evidence.

        "If the liver is damaged, and isn't functioning at 100%, that means your body has an elevated toxin load."
        No it doesn't. You need more toxins to have an elevated toxin load.

        "furthermore, the fucked up liver cannot detox"
        Citation please. More religion.

        "... the toxins ---> fucks up other shit --> DNA damage -->damaged DNA in the wrong place --> Congratulations, here's cancer."

        Pathetic.

        • OK, here are some citations. But before, that .. we know how this works, I provide citations, you can't read a science paper and you claim the shit is fabricated. You haven't taken a biochemistry class, you don't know shit about biology .. you're too idiotic to know how alcohol is metabolized .. what the fuck is an aldehyde .. how cancer arises .. or any shit like that and you dismiss shit. Fuck you. Here are some citations anyway that may be at your non-biochemistry kindergarten science level.

          Alcohol cause

          • But that has nothing to do with toxins is the point that was made. The whole theory of building up toxins that damage DNA and flushes has parallels to homeopathy.

            Yes, you can damage your liver and amongst other things this causes conditions like gout and jaundice. Kidney and liver damage can cause your body to not filter out certain things, which can then damage and kill your cells that trigger them to go cancerous, although how that works exactly isnâ(TM)t well known. Your DNA isnâ(TM)t damaged t

      • If it were that simple you'd expect the vast majority of people who regularly consume alcohol to get cancer, but that's clearly not the case. I would not be at all surprised if alcohol did increase the risk for certain types of cancer, but people who tend to be heavy drinkers often make other poor health decisions. Even if it isn't causing much of an increase in cancer, there are plenty of other nasty maladies that alcoholism causes.

        • No. Do you think it's a binary process? It's not. It's like blindly crossing the street without looking both ways. You can get away with it sometimes. But a lot of factors are at play .. the traffic on the street, the reflexes of drivers in your town. All those things. Your probability of getting cancer increases .. but there's no guarantee of getting it because your body has mechanisms to repair or block certain kinds of damage. To get cancer a bunch of shit has to go wrong simultaneously, so there's an el

          • That assumes that people randomly get cancer. That is not the case. What the data tells us is information about the population, not about the individuals in the population. So some people in the population are vulnerable and more people in the population of drinkers is vulnerable than the population of non-drinkers, whether any individual drinker is more vulnerable is unknown.

            • Any given drinker is has an increased risk of getting it versus if the didn’t drink. We know the mechanism by which that risk is increased. How do you think it is that more drinkers got cancer? You are going to assume it’s because drinkers are more likely to work with chemicals or something? I mean, you’re going to believe that over what the evidence is clearly showing? Ok please tell us how these drinkers are getting cancer. What’s your hypothesis?

              • what the evidence is clearly showing?

                The evidence shows that the population of drinkers has more people in it who get cancer. You seemed to have missed the point. That is not evidence that an individual in that population is more likely to get cancer. That is the fallacious logic of applying the attributes of the population to the individual in it.

                How do you think it is that more drinkers got cancer?

                There is any number of reasons why the population of non-drinkers would include fewer people who get cancer. The most obvious one is that population also includes people who don't smoke. It includes

                • Which is different than statistical evidence. We know how smoking causes cancers. Its not clear the mechanism for alcohol is as well understood or as significant.

                  Ok which of these statements do you deny?

                  1. Alcohol is broken down into acetaldehyde.
                  2. Acetaldehyde is correctly classified as a Group 1 carcinogen.
                  3. Acetaldehyde fucks up DNA randomly.
                  4. The acetaldehyde level in the blood increases, and is not cleared or broken down instantly. (in case you're uncertain: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.go... [nih.gov])

                  https://blogs.cdc.gov/cancer/2... [cdc.gov]

                  https://www.mdpi.com/2218-273X... [mdpi.com] (they also mention animal studies)

                  Even light drinking has been shown to increase cancer risk https://w [frontiersin.org]

                  • After decades of uncertainties and drawbacks, the study on the role and significance of acetaldehyde in the effects of ethanol seemed to have found its main paths.

                    The investigations on the role of acetaldehyde and ethanol metabolism in the central effects of ethanol have been a long-standing issue of interest and controversy

                    I can't imagine either of those statements made about the relationship of tobacco use to cancer. Or even sun exposure. Lets be clear, I am not arguing that use of alcohol never causes cancer. The question is one of individual risk. I think there is a lot of junk science there including EVERY claim that assigns the characteristics of a population to the individuals in that population. What the data may show is an increased risk for some members of the population. Your claim that risk is random is not suppor

                    • Uh yeah, the increased individual risk is there for everyone, unless you're some improbable superhuman that got improved alcohol handling and cancer mitigation genes. It's true that some people have genetics or circumstances wherein their increased risk of getting cancer is less than the average person (for example, they might have a superior variant of the ADLH2 gene or immune system improvements). However that doesn't change the fact that they've increased their probability of getting cancer. They're stil

                    • Uh yeah, the increased individual risk is there for everyone

                      A few other things that apparently increased the individual risk since they contain Acetaldehyde:

                      Vinegar Yogurt Cheese Sour cream Fish products Soy products Pickled or canned vegetables Fruit Acetaldehyde can be found naturally in some fruits, such as: Melon (including watermelon and Oriental melon) Pineapple Orange White peach Nectarine Very ripe fruits

                      The problem with "increased risk" is that everything in life has risk, it doesn't mean they should be compared to Russian Roulette. It is deprecated not just because it involves risk but its POINTLESS risk with catastrophic consequences. Even is someone gets cancer, they don't die instantly. And drinking is not pointless.

                      that's a highly contrived exception case

                      You obviously haven't paid attention to the withdrawal symptoms of alcohol abuse.

  • I was under the impression that this has been known for several decades?

  • Would you drink acetaldehyde (a chemical classified as a Group 1 carcinogen [which means it's a cancer-causing chemical] )? No? how about if we mixed it with lime juice? Or with coca cola? Still no? Well, that's what alcohol is broken down into in the liver and stomach lining by the ADH enzyme.

  • I can't tell from the summary or the article, but it sounds like this study was performed in California where Prop65 reigns. ;-)

  • Dr. Amy Commander, ... she said. "In fact, it's best to not drink alcohol at all, but that is obviously hard for many people".

    I just hate this added inference that many in the field have been adding, that the people who do consume alcohol (a not insignificant percentage of humans!), are somehow to be pitied and given some leeway for their 'weakness'.

    Humans, around the planet, have been consuming alcohol in some form for milenia!!!!!!

    I'll not deny the effects of excessive alcohol consumption,as cle

    • Humans, around the planet, have been consuming alcohol in some form for milenia!!!!!! I'll not deny the effects of excessive alcohol consumption,as clearly shown in some studies, but to suggest that any alcohol is harmful is a stretch. And adding the insulting recommendation that we should all avoid alcohol completely, save the poor weaklings among us who find it "hard to give up", is not helping their arguments!

      I don't really consider the behavior of our ancestors to be a perfect guide for how to live today. Life spans have drastically increased for many good reasons, including people learning how to live more healthily. I'm the first man in my family not to smoke, for example.

      Alcohol is a poison at any dose. It really is a matter of choosing if you want to do a little harm or a LOT of harm. You can drink in such low quantities that it doesn't harm you enough that you'll notice, but you know alcohol is a

  • We are all going to die of something sometime.

  • Last week of Octoberfest starts tomorrow, so don't read this article before attending that. It'll put a sour mood on the festivities.

  • "Moderate alcohol consumption beneficial for health and longevity"
    Then the next month we'll be back to alcohol causing you to die young and in horrible searing pain.

    My take? Do what makes you happy, just don't over-do it, mmkay? You're going to die someday anyway. If having a beer or a glass of wine or a cocktain once in a while makes you happy, then just do it.
    • Actually the "moderate consumption" myth has been thoroughly debunked. For more on this look up the "j curve hypothesis". It turns out that properly conducted studies (particularly in scandinavian military cohorts) establish a near linear dose-dependent effect of alcohol. That is, any amount of alcohol consumption increases the risk of many illnesses (cancers included). This is now well established, but the alcohol industry continues to push for softer messaging like, 'a glass of red wine with your meal

      • Lots of things, almost everything increases your risk of death. Death is inevitable some cells seem to have a clock so that if you live too long, you get cancer, so living long is a sure fire way to get cancer, but that doesnâ(TM)t mean you should stop living.

        There is no linear correspondence between anything and longevity, if someone tells you otherwise they have an agenda. Yes, drinking more alcohol more often will give you more chances to die sooner, we call that threshold alcoholism.

        • I believe that 'clock' of which you speak is DNA copying errors and telomerase degradation (not 100% sure I remember this last one correctly). So far as I know there are many enviromental factors, some naturally-occurring and some man-made, that can also cause DNA damage that can lead to cancer and other problems.
          When it comes right down to it, from an evolutionary standpoint, once you've reproduced successfully (or at least past the age where you can reproduce) evolution is done with you and it doesn't ma

          • Re: (Score:1)

            by guruevi ( 827432 )

            As hunter/gatherers, the elderly or wounded were often left behind. What we are doing now is extending lifespan, often to the point of introducing more pain and suffering. My point was that death is inevitable and I personally don't want pain and suffering to be extended. In the context of this article, we know each adult at least roughly how much alcohol is actively harmful to us, we know not to go there every day, is it possible that I may live 5 years longer while being eaten by cancers if I don't drink

      • I agree with you. As someone who is a Masters' athlete, I know damned well that ethanol is a poison. I rarely have a drink anymore, and when I do it's one or two and that's it, and I won't recommend drinking to anyone who does training for any sport, which is a damned hard sell to some young guys, I'll have you know, they still think they're one of the 'cool kids' if they go out and get blasted on the weekends with their buddies.
        But overall trying to convince the general public that alcohol consumption on
  • Cheers!
  • Not excessive, but from teenager to around 42, consumed alcohol. Gave it all up when it got to be difficult going out with the guys (younger) during the week, and then trying to go to work the next day. I don't care if someone drinks or not, but I don't like going out where people are drinking. I remember how I acted sometimes...just don't like to be around them. A lot of them get DEAF when they drink and have to yell. LOL

  • Oxygen can also increase your cancer risk. Guess what? No one gets out of here alive.

  • 4.1e6/30 = 136666.6666666667

    But they rounded to the nearest integer and tacked on "roughly"?

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