Cancer Risk for Women Drinking Too Much Alcohol

About a year ago a publication drew attention to a possibly increased risk of breast cancer among 185,000 US women who were observed over a 7-year period. At that time, there were calls for a larger study to confirm (or refute) the findings. This has now come, from the UK, and it’s published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Alcohol consumption was recorded in 1.3 million middle-aged women attending breast cancer screening clinics in the U.K. The women were followed for cancer over the next 7 years, and the cancer incidence at 21 common cancer sites taken from the national cancer registry.

Consumption of at least 7 alcoholic drinks a week was associated with higher risk for all cancers, and specifically for cancers of the rectum, liver, oro-pharynx, larynx, esophagus, and breast. (The oro-pharynx, larynx, and esophagus cancers were only increased in smokers.) On the other hand, increased alcohol consumption was also associated with a decreased risk for thyroid cancer, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and kidney cancer. The increases ranged from 10% (rectum), through 12% (breast), to 44% (larynx, in smokers).

At 7 drinks a week, there’s not really a ‘no-effect-level’. The researchers calculate that each additional drink per day could contribute to 15 extra cancers per 1,000 women u[p to age 75. An editorialist in the same journal concludes: "From a standpoint of cancer risk ... there is no level of alcohol consumption that can be considered safe."

This UK study was done on a large population, and must be taken seriously. One must remember that in this study, one drink contained 10 g of alcohol, whereas in the USA a standard drink contains 14 g. So considerably less than 1 drink a day in the USA puts women at risk. And there’s no comfort for wine drinkers – results were the same in the UK study for wine as for other types of alcohol. Now we must wait to see what sort of results are obtained in a similar study in men.

In recent years it’s been shown that small amounts of alcohol can be beneficial to cardiovascular health, which has led to promotion of the idea of taking 1-2 drinks a day to aid heart health.The possible benefits, however, are modest, and cannot compete with the detrimental effects seen in this UK study.