Alcohol Consumption Linked to Various Cancers, Study Finds

Alcohol is a vice for millions of people around the world, but like most things we put into our bodies, consuming it can come with some risks. A new study outlines how some seemingly innocuous drinks can lead to a person developing different types of cancer throughout their life. 

The research, published July 11 in the American Cancer Society's CA journal, looks at cancers attributable to "potentially modifiable risk factors" and how things like cigarette smoking, excess body weight, alcohol consumption, red meat consumption, physical inactivity, and ultraviolet radiation can potentially lead to cancer down the line. 

Unsurprisingly, cigarettes remained the number-one risk factor, with about 19 percent of cancer cases studied attributable to smoking. Excess body weight came in second at 7.6 percent, while alcohol wasn't far behind with 5 percent of cancer cases in men and women over 30 attributable to drinking. 

In total, alcohol was associated with seven different types of cancer: oral cavity, pharynx, larynx, colorectum, breast (among women), squamous cell carcinoma in the esophagus, and hepatocellular carcinoma in the liver. By the researchers' calculations, about 24,000 cancer deaths in a single year were attributable to alcohol consumption.

Study lead author Farhad Islami also noted that "there is accumulating evidence" that alcohol can cause other types of cancer like pancreatic cancer. "The increased risk is because of the alcohol in alcoholic beverages, not the type of beverage," he said, per STAT News, seemingly pouring cold water on the idea that red wine is actually good for us. 

Even consuming alcohol in small amounts comes with possible risks. A recent CDC study found that about 17 percent of cancer deaths were attributable to low levels of alcohol consumption, well below the medical guidance of a maximum of two drinks per day for men. 

More research needs to be done to clarify "the association between potentially modifiable risk factors and cancers for which the current evidence for causality in humans is limited," as well as "common cancers with few established modifiable risk factors (e.g., prostate cancer and non-Hodgkin lymphoma)" and "other potentially modifiable exposures, such as occupational carcinogens, air pollution, and other environmental risk factors," the authors wrote. 

You might want to think twice before ordering that next beer.