ISMNT NEWS: Disease Prevention by Exploring Molecular Mechanisms Linked to Nutrition ************************************************************************************

ISMNT News #4 deals with alcohol and cancer. Coming back to the protective effects of alcohol for coronary artery disease, we were asked whether alcohol consumption affects cancer: Bad news is- alcohol acts as a late stage tumor promoter!

The key reference is by:

Swanson, CA et al.

ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION AND BREAST CANCER RISK AMONG YOUNG WOMEN

from

NCI, NIH, Bethesda, MD 20892, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA 98104

Columbia University, New York, NY 10032

New Jersey State Department of Health, Trenton, NJ 08625

in

FASEB-J. 1997 Mar (Abstract volume): A440/2545

...In a population-based case-control study of women younger than 45 years of age, we

obtained a lifetime history of alcohol use to evaluate the effects of drinking during different periods of life in relation to breast cancer risk...

...Breast cancer risk was not influenced by drinking during the teenage years or early

adulthood. Risk of the disease was not related to duration of alcohol use or cumulative intake. Contemporary drinking (i.e. average intake during recent 5 year interval), however, was directly associated with risk. The adverse effect of recent drinking was limited to women who consumed 14 or more drinks per week....

...The effect of alcohol was largely restricted to women with invasive disease and was most pronounced among women with advanced disease...