NBC News
Annual deaths due to alcohol -related cancer have doubled in the United States in the last three decades, going from a little less than 12,000 a year in 1990 to more than 23,000 in 2021, according to a new study.
According to the authors of the study, the increase was due to the deaths of men from 55 years. This occurs while cancer deaths in the United States have been reduced by 35% during the same period of time, according to data from the American cancer society.
The findings will be presented next week at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago and have not yet been published in a magazine reviewed by experts.
“This is death in the face of the disease. We can treat many types of cancer, and every time we do it better, but this shows that people die of cancer because of alcohol,” says Jane Figueiredo, medical professor at the Samuel Oschin Integral Institute of the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, which did not participate in the investigation.
(The general surgeon calls for warnings about the risk of cancer in alcoholic beverages)
The study focused on seven alcohol -related cancers: breast, liver, colorectal, throat, larynx, mouth and esophagus. Alcohol is not responsible for all cases of these cancers, but it has been shown to be a determining factor in a percentage of them.
“When people think of alcohol, it does not necessarily consider it a carcinogen such as tobacco,” says Michael Siegel, professor of public health and community medicine at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Tufts, which did not participate in the study.
But it is. Once in the body, alcohol breaks down in acetaldehyde, a carcinogen that is also found in tobacco smoke. Alcohol damages DNA and facilitates that the mouth and throat absorb other carcinogens.
The International Center for Cancer Research, dependent on the World Health Organization, classified alcohol as a carcinogen in 1987. The investigations of that time related alcohol consumption with head and neck cancer (mouth, throat, larynx and esophagus) and liver. Since then it has been related to breast and colorectal cancers.
According to a January report from the US General Excircoura, alcoholic beverages should carry warning labels on cancer. According to WHO, there is no safe amount of alcohol consumption.
(Teenagers who use drugs do so to “reduce anxiety and stress,” according to CDC report)
According to New research, in 1991, 2.5% of all cancer deaths in men and 1.46% in women were related to alcohol. In 2021, these percentages increased to 4.2% and 1.85%, respectively.
In that same period of time, men experienced a 56% increase in deaths from cancers specifically related to alcohol. In the case of women, it was almost 8%.
“It is not surprising that it was greater in men, but it is much greater in men than in women,” says Chinmay Jani, co -director of the study and head of hematology and oncology of the Sylvester Integral Oncological Center of the University of Miami. Historically, men tend to start drinking alcohol at an earlier age, said Jani and his team.
However, alcohol consumption habits depending on sex seem to be changing. In recent years, an increasing number of women have become great drinkers, and the number of young women who bore alcohol is slightly higher than that of men, as revealed by the investigation.
Deaths due to the seven types of alcohol -related cancer increased among men in 47 states, and in 16 states in the case of women. In both groups, deaths among the inhabitants of New Mexico were the ones that increased the most: almost 60% among men and 18% among women. Oklahoma, in the case of men, and Tennessee, in women’s, were in second place.
(How many alcoholic beverages can be ingested per week without increasing the risk of developing cancer?)
Washington DC and New York registered the greatest declines in the case of men, and Massachusetts and New York in women. Utah remained the state with less alcohol -related cancer deaths.
Cancer deaths were older among people 55 years of age or older. In the men of this age group, alcohol -related cancer deaths increased more than 1% each year between 2007 and 2021.
“The carcinogenic effect probably does not immediately affect you in your youngest age, but as you still drink as you aged, this carcinogenic has a cumulative effect on the body,” said Jani.
Of the seven types of cancer related to alcohol, liver, colorectal and esophagus were the most mortal in 2021. In men in particular, liver cancer deaths were the most frequent. In women, it was breast cancer.
“We know that even small amounts of alcohol can affect the breast fabric,” said Figueiredo.
(Less than 0.1% of minors in the US receive gender statement drugs)
Jani said that the next phase of the investigation must find out how alcohol affects the different racial and ethnic groups in terms of cancer risk.
“The enzyme that metabolizes alcohol is lower in some ethnic groups than in others, so acetaldehyde, alcohol carcinogen, is higher in these people,” said Jani.
The consumption of alcohol in the US reached its peak in the late 1970s and descended until the end of the nineties, according to data from the National Institute on Alcohol and Alcoholism. Alcohol consumption also increased considerably during pandemic, as well as alcohol -related deaths.
Siegel states that the message about alcohol must pass from drinking responsible to ensure that people understand the effects on health that may even have a moderate consumption.
“It’s not about telling people who can’t drink. Each person has autonomy to make their own decisions,” says Siegel. “But we want to make sure they are well informed based on facts and not on erroneous ideas.”
