Alcohol causing cancer in Europe
In Europe, 1 in 10 cancers in men and 1 in 33 cancers in women occurs as a result of alcohol consumption, according to new EU funded research published in the British Medical Journal. The study, which uses data gathered from Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom, finds that a significant proportion of alcohol-attributable cancers (40-98%) occurred in individuals who drank more than the recommended amount of two drinks a day for men and one drink a day for women. 'Our data shows that many cancer cases could have been avoided if alcohol consumption is limited to two alcoholic drinks per day in men and one alcoholic drink per day in women, which are the recommendations of many health organisations,' says Madlen Schütze, lead author of the study and epidemiologist at the German Institute of Human Nutrition in Potsdam-Rehbruecke. 'Even more cancer cases would be prevented if people reduced their alcohol intake to below recommended guidelines or stopped drinking alcohol at all.' In Europe, 6.5% of deaths are as a result of chronic diseases caused by alcohol consumption. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) states that the cancers normally related to alcohol are oral cavity, pharynx, larynx, oesophagus and liver cancer. In 2007, they added female breast and colorectal cancer to this list. The data for the study was gathered using risk estimates from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) Study and representative alcohol consumption data compiled by the World Health Organization (WHO). In the EPIC Study, 363,988 men and women, aged between 35 and 70 at the start of the study, were analysed for cancer occurrence between 1992 and 2000. Their alcohol consumption was measured through detailed questionnaires on diet and lifestyle and the amount, frequency and type of beverage that they consumed at different points throughout their life as well as what their current intake was. The study calculated that in 2008, current and former alcohol consumption in men was responsible for about 57,600 cases of cancer of the upper aerodigestive tract, colorectum and liver in Denmark, Germany, Greece, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Of these cases, 33,000 were as a result of drinking more than two alcoholic drinks per day. In 8 of the countries, alcohol consumption in women caused about 21,500 cases of upper aerodigestive tract, liver, colorectum and breast cancer, of which over 80% (17,400) was due to consumption of more than 1 drink of beer, wine or spirits per day. This study moves forward research into the link between alcohol and cancer by analysing data on the number of cancer cases linked to total alcohol consumption and the proportion of cases caused by alcohol consumption beyond recommended limits. Up until now, it was merely a speculation that lowering alcohol consumption to two drinks a day in men and one drink a day in women would bring benefits in terms of reducing the incidence of cancer. The quantitative measures carried out in this study, both relative (alcohol-attributable fraction) and absolute (total number of cancer cases) for the burden associated with alcohol consumption above the recommended upper limit, show that this link exists. The study also pushed boundaries by analysing past alcohol consumption as well. The findings underline the necessity of lowering alcohol consumption in Europe and the authors note that their findings have implications for future European health policies.For more information, please visit:German Institute of Human Nutrition (DIfE):http://www.dife.de/en/index.php
Countries
Germany, Denmark, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Netherlands, United Kingdom