Experts have warned that high alcohol consumption is significantly associated with an increased risk for colorectal cancer, regardless of one’s genetic risk.
In a new study, researchers said that drinking at least 25 g of alcohol daily in a lifetime was associated with a 1.8-fold increased risk for early-onset colorectal cancer in their finding published in The Lancet’s eClinical Medicine.
They reported that abstinent, moderate-high and high lifetime alcohol consumption was significantly associated with a 16%, 22% and 51% higher risk for colorectal cancer compared with low lifetime alcohol consumption. Similar associations with cancer risk applied to recent alcohol consumption.
The data further showed that an average lifetime alcohol consumption of at least 25 g daily was associated with a 1.8-fold increased risk for early-onset cancer and a 1.3-fold increased risk for late-onset cancer.
The relationships between the dose of alcohol consumption and cancer risk were similar for participants with low and high polygenic risk scores, according to the researchers.
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While long-term high consumption of beer and liquor was associated with an increased risk for colorectal cancer, long-term high consumption of wine was not, according to the researchers.
The researcher carried out a population-based, case-control study to assess the association between alcohol consumption and colorectal cancer across polygenic risk score levels for 140 colorectal cancer-related loci. In total, 4,131 control cases and 5,104 colorectal cancer cases were evaluated. Among the participants with cancer, 60.3% were men with a median age of 69 years.
Genetic Risk Equivalent (GRE) scores were used to compare the effects of alcohol consumption and polygenetic risk scores on cancer risk. Participants self-reported their alcohol consumption, which were categorised as abstinent (0 g/d), low (< 12 g/d), low-moderate (12g/d to 25 g/d) moderate-high (25 g/d to 50 g/d) or high (50 g/d) consumption.
They, however, stated that further research is needed to derive more precise estimates of the impact of various patterns of alcohol consumption in combination with a polygenic risk score, other lifestyle factors and comorbidities across various ethnic groups in the total population and young adults in particular.
In general, the American Cancer Society recommends that people who drink alcohol limit their intake to no more than two units per day for men and one drink a day for women, and the European Code Against Cancer recommends limiting or cutting out alcohol consumption.
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