Alcohol Consumption Can Cause Cancer, A Study Concludes

After 30 years when a link between alcohol consumption and cancer was found, researchers have recently found evidence to back the fact that our favorite beverage, in the form of alcohol, is a carcinogen.

Presenting her findings at the 244^th National Meeting and Exposition of the American Chemical Society, Silvia Bilbao, who conducted her research at Steven Hecht’s (a cancer expert) laboratory, revealed what happens when alcohol, in the form of beer, wine and hard liquor, breaks down in the human body.

Put simply – one of the chemicals formed in the process is acetaldehyde, which resembled formaldehyde, a known carcinogen that has an adverse effect on human health. The fact that acetaldehyde can cause health issues is backed by earlier research where it can damage DNA, responsible for chromosomal mutations in cell cultures and finally, is considered as a carcinogen in animals.

In the research conducted by Bilbao and her team, it was found that alcohol can change DNA and attaches itself to the DNA in the process – and has been termed as a ‘DNA adduct’. Study volunteers were given increasing amounts of vodka once in a week for three weeks in all.

It was found that the DNA adduct levels increased by about 100 times in the volunteers’ oral cells while there was a serious increase in adduct levels in blood cells as well.

Although, this raises a cause for concern, most people are able to repair this damage caused to DNA as they are able to convert acetaldehyde to acetate – a harmless substance. However, there are certain races such as 30 % of Asians, Native Americans and Alaskans do not have this capability of metabolizing alcohol to acetate.