Alcohol Consumption & the Risk of Cancer

Q1.  Does consuming alcohol increase the risk of developing cancer?

A1. Yes, consuming alcohol increases the risk of developing cancer. This risk is more in heavy drinkers but significant in all persons who consume alcohol regularly.

Q2. What are the reasons for this increased risk?

A2. The reasons are varied. Some of these reasons are that alcohol increases inflammation in some organs of the body, leads to nutritional deficiency, increases the amount of the female hormone estrogen in the body and causes obesity.Other factors are reduction of the immunity of the body as well as an increase in the harmful effects of tobacco.

Q3. Does this increased risk pertain to some specific cancers and if so, which cancers are these?

A3. Alcohol increases the risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, food-pipe, large intestine, liver and breast.

Q4. Why does alcohol increase the risk of developing cancer of the alimentary tract, i.e.,  throat, food pipe and  intestine.

A4. Alcohol is metabolised into a toxic substance called acetaldehyde which causes inflammation in the alimentary tract.  In addition, it also potentiates the ill effects of tobacco by increasing  the absorption of carcinogens (cancer causing substances).

Q5. Does alcohol increase the risk of cancer of the breast in older women, or is age irrelevant ?

A5. Alcohol increases the level of oestrogen in the body and this in turn leads to an increased risk of breast cancer, irrespective of the age or menopausal status of a woman. The increased risk of breast cancer is also related to obesity and the deficiency  of folates induced by alcohol.

Q6. Alcohol induces cirrhosis of the liver. Is that somehow related to cancer?

A6. Yes, the same inflammatory process that causes cirrhosis of the liver also causes cancer. Liver cancer is one of the most common causes of cancer related death worldwide, though all of this is not related to alcohol.

Q7. How significant is the problem of alcohol related cancer in the Indian context.

A7.Though less significant than countries like China or the developed world, alcohol is an important cause of cancer in Indian men, with over 7 % of cancers in Indian males being attributed to alcohol. Happily, the number of alcohol induced cancers  in Indian women is negligible.

Q8. Does stopping the intake of alcohol help?

A8. Stopping the consumption of alcohol helps but slowly, the risk of developing cancers becoming equivalent to a non drinker in about ten years.