Can Drinking Alcohol Cause Cancer?

Well, it’s a myth that alcohol is not that harmful if consumed occasionally or less often in a limited amount. On long term, excess intake of alcohol might lead to serious health issues damaging the vital organs of your body. However, not all people would get cancer, who drink alcohol more often but, according to the studies confirmed by some scientists and researchers, cancer is very common in people who drink alcohol than those who don’t. Studies have claimed that all types of alcohol increase the risk of cancer in various sites of human body. And the more you drink alcohol, the greater the risk of developing cancer. According to the government’s alcohol unit guidelines, people should not regularly consume alcohol more than 14 units a week to keep health risks related to alcohol at bay.

Facts about alcohol

• Honestly, there is no such type of alcohol which is better or worse than another. This is the alcohol itself that causes serious organ damage regardless of its presence in beer, wine, vodka or rum.
• Drinking plus smoking can be super damaging and harmful for your health.
• No matter how you drink alcohol, intake of alcohol increases the risk of cancer whether you drink it all in one go or a less amount at a time.
• There’s no safe limit for alcohol consumption when it comes to risk of cancer. Alcohol is one of the most assured and proven cause of cancer.
• Alcohol consumption regularly or less regularly leads to cancer in mouth, throat, breast and bowel in most cases.
• The risk of breast cancer is increased by alcohol consumption.
• Intake of alcohol during pregnancy can develop the cancer risk in infants or children.

Types of cancer due to alcohol consumption

3.5% of entire cancer deaths and 3.6 of all cancer cases all over the world are only caused due to consumption of alcohol. According to Otago University, New Zealand, alcohol causes mutations involved in cancer formation process multiplying the cancer cells increasing the risk of cancer in different sites of your body such as mouth, larynx, oropharynx, oesophagus, women breasts, liver, rectum and bowel. According to a new meta-analysis by American Institute for Cancer Research and the International Agency for Research on Cancer, drinking alcohol can cause seven different types of cancer in different sites of human body.

• Mouth and throat cancer

• Larynx cancer

• Oesophageal cancer

• Breast cancer

• Liver cancer

• Colon cancer

• Bowel and rectum cancer

According to the recent alcohol based cancer studies, alcohol has got the dose-response affiliation to cancer formation which means the person who drinks more alcohol is more likely to develop certain cancers. The relationship between alcohol and mouth and throat cancer is quite stronger than the link between alcohol and other cancers. As per a study, intake of alcohol more than 50 grams a day can be affiliated with 4-7 times greater risk of developing mouth, throat and esophagus cancer than with zero intake of alcohol. However, drinking the same amount of alcohol can have 1.5 times greater risk of getting liver, colorectal and breast cancer compared to zero drinking. When it comes to breast cancer, excess intake or limited intake of alcohol can cause cancer by escalating the estrogen levels in the body, multiplying the cancer cell division, the hormone mostly associated with the breast cancer disease.

Recommended: Why Does Alcohol Affect Women More than Men?

Role of acetaldehyde in alcohol for cancer

When you drink, alcohol (ethanol) is converted into a toxic chemical substance called as acetaldehyde that can significantly cause cancer by damaging DNA and inhibiting our body cells from getting repaired after being damaged. The International Agency for Research on Cancer centre has classified acetaldehyde formation as the solo reason behind cancer developing cells.

Acetaldehyde causes the liver cells to grow quite faster than normal process and these faster regenerating cells are more likely to create changes in their respective genes leading to cancer. Ethanol the most crucial component of alcohol is broken down primarily by the liver however there are many other cell types that can do this too. Few bacteria present in our mouths and the gut linings are also capable of converting ethanol into acetaldehyde.

Researchers and scientists have found that a compound is formed when alcohol gets broke down which is responsible for the development of cancer cells in the mouth, throat, esophagus, colon and liver. The compound is acetaldehyde that is formed when alcohol is initially digested by our saliva or by the molecules present in the liver. Acetaldehyde comes in contact with the tissues present the mouth, throat, esophagus and liver directly, damaging the cells’ DNA of those tissues ultimately causing cancer which means drinking alcohol more or less can actually cause cancer indeed.