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One alcoholic drink daily may increase risk for cancer in women
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Light to moderate drinking minimally increased the overall risk for cancer among men and women, according to research from Harvard University and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
Women who are nonsmokers had a greater risk for alcohol-related cancers — especially breast cancer — even after only one alcoholic drink daily.
Edward L. Giovannucci
Heavy alcohol consumption has been known to increase cancer risk, but the risk associated with light to moderate consumption — or one drink per day for women and two per day for men — had been less clear.
Edward L. Giovannucci, MD, ScD, associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and professor of nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and colleagues sought to quantify the overall risk for cancer across alcohol consumption levels, focusing specifically on light to moderate drinking. The researchers also focused on nonsmokers because the role of alcohol as an independent risk factor for cancer has not been clearly defined.
“It is estimated that alcohol consumption has caused 3.6% of all cancers worldwide (1.7% in women and 5.2% in men), and 3.2% to 3.7% of cancer deaths in the USA,” Giovannucci and colleagues wrote. “Our study provides a comprehensive assessment of the relation between alcohol intake, including quantity and drinking patterns, and risk of cancer, with a focus on light to moderate drinkers and never smokers.”
The investigators used two ongoing prospective cohort studies — the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS), which began in 1976, and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (HPFS), which began in 1986 — to create their study cohort. Information on alcohol consumption in the NHS did not begin until 1980.
The analysis included data from 121,700 female nurses aged 30 to 55 years and 51,529 male health professionals ages 40 to 75 years.
Median baseline consumption of alcohol was 1.8 g/day in women and 5.6 g/day in men.
Overall, 19,269 cancers occurred among the women and 7,571 cancers — excluding non-advanced prostate cancers — occurred among the men over a combined span of over 3.14 million person-years.
Compared with non-drinkers, women who had a daily alcohol intake of between 0.1 and 4.9 grams had a RR for total cancer of 1.02 (95% CI, 0.98-1.06), and women who drank between 5 and 14.9 grams had a RR of 1.04 (95% CI, 1-1.09).
The corresponding risk for men was 1.03 (95% CI, 0.96-1.11) for 0.1 to 4.9 grams of daily alcohol and 1.05 (95% CI, 0.97-1.12) for 5 to 14.9 grams of daily alcohol. Additionally, men who consumed between 15 and 29.9 grams of alcohol a day had a RR for total cancer of 1.06 (95% CI, 0.98-1.15).
The association between light to moderate drinking and cancer appeared comparable among ever smokers and never smokers; however, that increase in alcohol intake above moderate levels (30 g/day or more) had a stronger association with cancer risk among ever smokers than never smokers (P = .06 for women, P = .11 for men).
Alcohol-related cancers — defined as cancers of the colorectum, female breast, oral cavity, pharynx, larynx, liver and esophagus — occurred in 9,016 women and 1,611 men.
As low as 5 to 14.9 grams a day of alcohol increased the risk for an alcohol-related cancer among women (RR = 1.13; 95% CI, 1.06-1.2). Researchers noted this was predominantly driven by breast cancer.
Alcohol-related cancer risk due to light to moderate drinking did not significantly increase among men who never smoked, but did among those who ever smoked (P = .006).
After adjusting for total alcohol intake, more frequent and heavy episodic drinking did not further increase the risk for total cancer.
“Light to moderate drinking is associated with small and non-significant increased risk of overall cancer,” the researchers concluded. “For men, the association with alcohol-related cancers was primarily observed among smokers, and light to moderate drinking did not appreciably increase risk in never smokers. Among women, even consumption of up to one drink per day was associated with increased risk of alcohol-related cancers (mainly breast cancer). Decisions on levels of alcohol consumption should also incorporate information on smoking history and familial predisposition to alcohol-related cancers.”– by Anthony SanFilippo
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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