Human carcinogenesis and alcohol in hepato-gastroenterology

G. Testino, P. Borro, O. Ancarani, A. Sumberaz

Department of Specialistic Medicine, S. Martino Hospital, Genova (Italy)

---

• Gastroenterology

Alcohol consumption is one of the top-10 risks for worldwide burden of disease. The International Agency for Research for Cancer affirmed that there was evidence for the carcinogenicity of ethanol in animals and classified alcohol consumption as carcinogenic for humans.

Alcohol consumption causes cancers of the oral cavity, pharynx, larynx, oesophagus, colorectum, liver, pancreas and female breast.

Most alcohol-induced diseases increases in a linear fashion as intake increases: oral, oesophagus and colon cancer fall into this pattern: very little is known about safe margins of alcohol consumption. Given the linear dose-response relation between alcohol intake and risk of cancer, control of heavy drinking remains the main target for cancer control.

For the European Code Against Cancer the limit should not exceed between 20 g of ethanol per day and it should be as low as 10 g per day for women.

In our opinion, the analysis of the literature is unable to identify a threshold level of alcohol consumption below which no increased risk for cancer is evident.

Corresponding Author: Gianni Testino, MD; e-mail: gianni.testino@hsanmartino.it

Free PDF Download