Alcohol consumption and cancer risk
2011
This review focuses on selected aspects of the relation between alcohol consumption and cancer risk. Heavy alcohol consumption (i.e., ≥4 drinks/day) is significantly associated with an increased risk of about 5-fold for oral and pharyngeal cancer and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, 2.5-fold for laryngeal cancer, 50% for colorectal and breast cancers, and 30% for pancreatic cancer. These estimates are based on a large number of epidemiological studies and are generally consistent across strata of several covariates. The evidence suggests that at low doses of alcohol consumption (i.e., ≤1 drink/day) the risk is also increased by about 20% for oral and pharyngeal cancer and 30% for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Thus, for these sites there is little evidence of a threshold effect. While consumption of fewer than 3 alcoholic drinks/wk is not associated with an increased risk of breast cancer, an intake of 3 to 6 drinks/wk might already yield a (small) increase in risk. On the other hand, intakes up t...
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