Alcohol Is Even Deadlier Than You Think, Scientist Reminds Us

An opinion piece published in the scientific journal Addiction in July gathers evidence to argue that alcohol is a direct cause of cancer in several areas of the body. The article reviews 10 years’ worth of studies from several organizations, including the World Cancer Research Fund, the American Institute for Cancer Research and the International Agency for Research on Cancer. And its conclusions are dire.  Nearly 6 percent of cancer deaths worldwide can be linked to alcohol, including in people who drink light to moderate amounts of alcohol, according to author Jennie Connor, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Otago in New Zealand. “From a public health perspective,” she writes, “alcohol is estimated to have caused approximately half a million deaths from cancer in 2012.”  Connor concludes that there is a strong link between alcohol consumption and cancer in specific areas of the body, such as the liver, colon, esophagus and female breast. She says there are also causal contributions in other areas such as the prostate, pancreas and skin.  How alcohol causes cancer is not deeply understood, according to the article, but it is thought to depend on the “target organ.” For example, cancers of the throat, mouth and liver can be largely attributed to a carcinogenic compound called acetaldehyde. Salivary acetaldehyde levels have been found to reach high levels when drink...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - Category: Science Source Type: news