Heavy Alcohol Consumption Linked With Greater Lung Cancer Risk
A new study links heavy alcohol consumption with a greater risk of developing lung cancer. The study included approximately 126,000 people who enrolled between 1978 and 1985, and were followed until 2008. The researchers found 1,852 people developed lung cancer during that time.
Having three or more alcoholic drinks a day increased lung cancer risk by 30 percent. Heavy beer consumption carried a slightly higher risk than wine and liquor, Medical News Today reports.
“Heavy drinking has multiple harmful effects, including cardiovascular complications and increased risk for lung cancer,” lead researcher Stanton Siu, MD, of Kaiser Permanente said in a news release. “We did not see a relationship between moderate drinking and lung cancer development.”
The researchers conclude that avoidance of any type of heavy alcohol intake may reduce the risk of lung cancer. The study was presented this week at CHEST 2011, the annual meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians.
It would be even better to start with the “tweens” because kids are using alcohol as early as 9 years old.
just out of curiosity, How many of these drinkers spent time drinking in a smoke filled bar? vs how many spent time drinking at home with no second hand smoke exposure?
As much as I’m culturally inclined to accept the study, looking for cancer causes in a single factor is an outdated study methodology. Without information on diet, location or behavioral patterns studies like this are as good as useless. If (and a bit speculative if) heavy drinkers are located in heavier metropolitan areas and have more active social lives (lonely people usually go for the hard liquor) it would explain the cancer increase just by environmental factors.
Like Austin pointed out, if these people are going to smoke filled pubs or concert venues every other night, no wonder they have higher lung cancer incidence.
Health-related costs per user are eight times higher for those who drink alcohol when compared to those who use marijuana, and are more than 40 times higher for tobacco smokers, according to a 2009 review published in the British Columbia Mental Health and Addictions Journal.
It states, “In terms of [health-related] costs per user: tobacco-related health costs are over $800 per user, alcohol-related health costs are much lower at $165 per user, and cannabis-related health costs are the lowest at $20 per user.”