S23-5ALCOHOL AND CANCER: UPDATE 2017

Abstract

Chronic heavy alcohol consumption is a risk factor for many chronic diseases such as pancreatitis, liver cirrhosis, cardiomyopathy, and certain cancers. The quantity and frequency of alcohol consumption play a very important role in determining the outcome. For example, moderate consumption is associated with a decreased risk of diabetes, ischemic stroke, and coronary heart disease, among others. As to cancer risk, chronic excessive consumption is associated with hepatocellular carcinoma in about 2% of patients with liver cirrhosis, and increased risk of head and neck cancers especially when combined with smoking. A study published in 2015 followed 334,850 women showed a scant increase in the risk of breast cancer (a 4% higher risk was found for women who averaged two drinks a day than those who limited their consumption to one daily drink - which is the amount defined as moderate consumption by the US Dietary Guidelines. Women who consumed an average of three drinks a day had a 6% higher breast cancer risk. Although alcohol may play a minor role in increasing breast cancer risk, women should limit their consumption to one drink a day, and with their health professional, should weigh the increased breast cancer risk against decreased risk of cardiovascular disease. A study associated moderate drinking with a decreased risk of thyroid cancer, and another study of one million women showed that moderate consumption decreased the risk of kidney and urinary bladder cancer, and cancer of lymphatic and hematopoietic systems (Hodgkin's disease and non-Hodgkin lymphoma). These associated increases and decreases of cancer risks due to alcohol consumption are based on observational epidemiological studies that do not establish cause and effect. Epidemiological studies can benefit from refining methodology and using an interdisciplinary approach.