Are Alcohol and Cancer Linked

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Alcohol may benefit heart but researches have proved that alcohol increases the risk of many types of cancers. And so people who don’t drink need not be encouraged to start. However men and women who already drink moderately, that is less than one drink a day is prescribed moderate women and less than two for men, need not stop.Studies done of various groups of women in various institutes suggest that having alcohol within limits can also increase the risk of breast cancer. It may surprise many of you but an average and prescribed limit of two drinks per day can also increases breast cancer risk by approximately 25%. It’s a topic of active studies and the recent studies show that alcohol increases the estrogens level in the bloodstream, which in turn may increase breast cell division and as a result increase cancer risk.

Many studies also have linked alcohol intake to increased risk of rectal cancer. High alcohol intake, particularly when combined with low folic acid intake⁸ also may increase risk of colon cancer.

It has been confirmed that alcohol has carcinogenic effect on those parts of the body which comes in direct contact with is like tongue, pharynx, esophagus, and mouth. Then follows the next stage when it is broken down in the liver cells, this effect leads to fatty degeneration of the liver. An organ as delicate and sensitive as liver, when it is repeatedly bombarded with unlimited and untimely consumption of alcohol, liver cells start to breakdown in the form of fatty degeneration. The result of this chemistry is that it initially may lead to liver cirrhosis and then to cancer of the liver.

When consumption of alcohol is combined with smoking the result is fatal. In countries like the USA it has been calculated that drinking on a regular basis leads to a 17 times greater incidence of esophageal cancer. Alcoholism leads to of lack of appetite. Also since alcohol has no nutritional value, it leads to malnutrition. Due to alcohol consumption our immune system also does not function efficiently. This may give more scope to carcinogens to attack the body.