More than 4% of all new cancer cases in 2020 were attributable to alcohol consumption, according to a study published Tuesday in the journal The Lancet Oncology.
The researchers analyzed the available data on alcohol consumption at the population level in 2010 and on cancer cases in 2020.
The researchers assumed a 10-year period between alcohol consumption and cancer onset, since the types of cancer included in the study, lip and mouth cavity cancer, laryngeal cancer, and breast cancer (in women), have long periods of development and previous evidence of a causal relationship with alcohol consumption.
Drinking 20 to 60 grams, two to six glasses, of alcohol ethanol per day, which the authors defined as “risky consumption”, accounted for 39.4% of cancer cases attributable to alcohol.
Moderate consumption, defined as 20 grams or less, or up to two drinks, per day, contributed almost 14%, or 1 in 7 cases.
The highest rates of alcohol-attributable cancer were in men who drank 30 to 50 grams of ethanol alcohol per day, and in women who consumed 10 to 30 grams per day.
“We urgently need to sensitize decision-makers and the general public to the link between alcohol consumption and cancer risk”, study author Harriet Rumgay, a doctoral student at the WHO International Agency for Research on Cancer, said in a statement.
The authors stated that they “Found that alcohol consumption causes a substantial burden of cancer”, but other experts say multiple limitations could weaken the strength of this proposed relationship.
“These estimates, based on standard measurements, are useful because patterns of alcohol consumption change over time,” wrote Dr Amy. C Justice, CNH Long professor of medicine and professor of public health at the Yale School of Medicine, in a statement.
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