Are you a heavy drinker? If so, you may be raising your risk of developing several different types of cancer, including cancers of the oral cavity, pharynx, larynx, esophagus, breast, liver, colon and rectum.
Dr. Mark Pochapin, professor and director of the division of gastroenterology at NYU Langone Medical Center, says we have good data from a meta-analysis that shows the more you drink, the higher your risk for colorectal cancer. “Alcohol is literally a drug,” Pochapin says.
The meta-analysis found that people who have three and a half drinks per day (about 50 grams of alcohol) have a 50 percent increased risk of developing CRC compared to light drinkers or non-drinkers. Those who drink moderately — defined as one to four drinks per day — have a 20 percent increased risk. “For every 10 grams of alcohol [you consume] per day, there is a 7 percent increased risk of CRC,” says Dr. Alok Khorana, director of the Gastrointestinal Malignancies Program at Cleveland Clinic.
When alcohol is metabolized by your body, it breaks down into a chemical called acetaldehyde. “Acetaldehyde is a known carcinogen,” Khorana says. “It can damage DNA, which is most likely how alcohol causes [the increased] risk for cancer.”
Plus, alcohol can also lead to the development of polyps in the colon, Pochapin says, and it increases the risk that you’ll develop polyps, which are benign growths that have the potential to turn into colorectal cancer.
[See: 7 Health Risks of Binge Drinking You Can’t Ignore.]
Do You Know How Much You Are Drinking?
According to a spring survey by the American Institute for Cancer Research, about 4 in 10 American adults don’t realize alcohol affects their risk of developing cancer and that this increased risk occurs even at low levels of regular drinking. Furthermore, the World Health Organization says as many as 25 percent of cancers worldwide may be attributable to alcohol consumption.
The AICR recommends limiting alcohol consumption to no more than two drinks per day for men and one per day for women. However, actual serving sizes of alcohol don’t always correspond to the measurements researchers use when conducting studies. You may actually be drinking more than you realize.
The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism says a standard alcoholic drink in the U.S. has 14 grams (0.6 ounces) of pure alcohol. That’s equivalent to a 12-ounce beer, a 5-ounce glass of wine or 1.5 ounces of 80-proof spirits. Beer is 3 to 7 percent alcohol; hard liquor is 35 to 40 percent.
[See: How to Break 7 Unhealthy Habits.]
Your Drinking Patterns Can Influence Your Risk
“If you look at alcohol as a drug, it can have a really significant effect, not just on your colon,” Pochapin says. “It’s a total body thing. You don’t have to be dying in the gutter to be an alcoholic.” If you’re worried about your risk for colon cancer because of how much alcohol you drink, you may be addicted. “I ask patients when their last drink was,” Pochapin says. “If they can tell me the day and time, alcohol has a significant effect on their life. There are plenty of people who don’t recognize they’re addicted to alcohol.”
Furthermore, binge drinking has become a significant problem, especially for older women. A study by the AICR found that 1 in 10 adults is a heavy binge drinker, consuming excessive alcohol (four drinks for women, five for men) at one time. Khorana says your risk for developing alcohol-related cancers, such as colorectal cancer, is driven by the total amount you consume per day.
Just as some individuals are more genetically predisposed to become alcoholics if they drink in excess, genetic differences also play a role in how vulnerable certain people are to the carcinogenic affects of alcohol. This is why some moderate drinkers still develop alcohol-related cancers.
Khorana says there’s not a lot of data to suggest whether quitting if you’re a heavy drinker will lower your risk for colorectal cancer in the same way quitting smoking reduces your risk for lung cancer. There’s a bit more data showing a decline in the risk for head, neck and esophageal cancers if you give up alcohol, but it takes years — perhaps 10 or more — for the risk to go down, he says.
[See: 9 Drinks That Give You a Buzz Without the Hangover.]
What About Red Wine?
Red wine has certain substances that are associated with anti-cancer properties. However, researchers have never demonstrated in clinical trials that drinking red wine lowers your risk for cancer. Still, when choosing to drink alcohol, red wine has a much lower alcohol content than hard liquor.
“Alcohol is such a toxin to the body,” Khorana says. “No one can justify drinking more than one drink per day. I never recommend alcohol for medicinal purposes. It doesn’t justify the damage.”
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What’s the Link Between Alcohol and Colon Cancer? originally appeared on usnews.com
