Study Details Stomach, Esophagus Cancer Risk of Smoking, Drinking

A large Dutch study finds that smoking can vastly increase the risk of two types of stomach cancer and two forms of esophageal cancer, while drinking alcohol can increase the risk of one type of the latter disease, Reuters reported Dec. 31.

Researchers who tracked 120,000 adults for 16 years found that smoking increases the risk of these diseases anywhere from 60 to 263 percent, while drinking raises the risk of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma fivefold.

The study, from Jessie Steevens at Maastricht University in the Netherlands, was published in the January 2010 issue of the journal Gut.