Heavy drinking can raise your risk for several cancers

Earlier this week, researchers at the University of Toronto uncovered an alarming link between alcohol consumption and cancer: Drinking six or more alcoholic beverages per day may bring an increased risk for esophageal, liver, and breast cancer.

Men were especially vulnerable to cancer caused by alcohol abuse, according to the new study, which was published this month in The Lancet.

Although moderate drinking contributed to some of these incidences, imbibing six or more drinks a day accounted for nearly half of them (47%).

“Risky drinking,” which the authors defined as two to six drinks per day, represented 39.4% of alcohol-attributable cancer cases, and drinking up to two drinks per day contributed to nearly 14%.

“Our findings highlight the need for effective policy and interventions to increase awareness of cancer risks associated with alcohol use and decrease overall alcohol consumption to prevent the burden of alcohol-attributable cancers,” the authors wrote in the report.

How alcohol raises cancer risk 

Excessive alcohol consumption can disrupt DNA, hormone regulation, and proteins important to cellular health. And some people may be more genetically prone to cancer risk from alcohol. For example, somewhere between 28% and 45% of East Asian people have an enzyme linked to a higher risk of cancer in the upper aerodigestive tract. Other risk factors include obesity, diabetes, and iron deficiency.

After you drink alcohol, it breaks down into a carcinogen known as acetaldehyde. This compound stops injured cells from repairing damage, which can in turn cause cancerous cells to grow more quickly.

Because the new research was population-based, the authors were able to compare cancer rates among different cultures. For instance, cancer cases were lowest in territories where alcohol consumption is banned, like North Africa and Western Asia, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait.

“We urgently need to raise awareness about the link between alcohol consumption and cancer risk among policy makers and the general public,” study author Harriet Rumgay, a doctoral student at the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer, said in a statement. “Public health strategies, such as reduced alcohol availability, labeling alcohol products with a health warning, and marketing bans, could reduce rates of alcohol-driven cancer.”

Is there a safe amount of alcohol to drink?

Independently conducted research has backed the idea that limiting alcohol consumption to one or two beverages per day has plenty of benefits. But it’s what those one or two drinks are that seems to matter most. Although red wine contains ethanol like any other alcoholic beverage, it also contains antioxidants that may protect cells from damage.

In recent studies of breast cancer survivors, moderate alcohol use was not shown to increase the risk of recurrence. Moreover, moderate alcohol use was not shown to lower their survival rates.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend men drink no more than two alcoholic beverages a day and women no more than one.