Cancer alcoholic beverages

According to the lARC, sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity for alcoholic beverages has been established in humans." Epidemiological studies clearly indicate that consumption of alcoholic beverages is causally related to cancers of the oral cavity, pharynx, larynx, esophagus, and liver. Since the lARC evaluation, evidence has accumulated for an asso-... 

Toquet C, Toussaint G, Letalaer JY. 1981. Studies on mutagenic constituents of apple brandy and various alcoholic beverages collected in western France, a high incidence area for esophageal cancer. Mutat Res 88 155-164. 

Sn I reactions are thought to play a role in how nitrosamines, compounds having the general structure R2NN=0, act as toxins and carcinogens. Nitrosamines are present in many foods, especially cured meats and smoked fish, and they are also found in tobacco smoke, alcoholic beverages, and cosmetics. Nitrosamines cause many forms of cancer. 

Alcohol consumption and its relationship to the occurrence of human cancers has been the subject of numerous epidemiological investigations. Erom these studies, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (lARC Volume 44) has concluded that there is sufficient evidence for the carcinogenicity of alcoholic beverages in humans. Malignant tumors of the oral cavity, pharynx, larynx, esophagus, and liver... 

These pyrolysis products were also found in roasted tea and brandy-type alcoholic beverages (Sugimura and Sato, 1983). In addition, as a result of ethanol metabolism, mutagenic acetaldehyde is formed, while in coffee and tea caffeine, an inhibitor of DNA repair synthesis is present and may also contribute to cancer risk. 

The opposite must be said in the case of alcoholic beverages. Experimental results did not indicate that they might play a role in the potentiation of cancer risk. This notion was somehow supported by the epidemiological studies carried out in France, which lead to the discovery of the so-called French paradox. Contrary to the common belief among this country s population, despite high alcohol intake, the frequency of heart failures and possibly also tumor incidence is lower than that in other states. Currently, it is postulated that antioxidant substances present in colored alcoholic beverages and particularly abundant in red wine (Figure 14.1) offer such protection. 

Some industrial solvents are found on the Proposition 65 list. As of January 1, 1993 (2), benzene, carbon tetrachloride, chloroform, methylene chloride, 1,4-dioxane, 2-nitropropane, and perchloroethylene have been listed as substances known to the state of California to cause cancer. Ethyl alcohol in alcoholic beverages, ethylene glycol monomethyl ether, ethylene glycol monoethyl ether, ethylene glycol monomethyl ether acetate, ethylene glycol monoethyl ether acetate, and toluene are listed as substances known to the state of California to cause reproductive toxicity. Because the list is being expanded periodically, it is necessary for a user of industrial solvents to maintain awareness of the Proposition 65 list. 

You may have heard that there is an association between drinking alcohol and the incidence of some cancers, with the heaviest emphasis in the recent lay and professional literature directed toward different forms of breast cancers. How good is the evidence that daily consumption of one to two glasses of an alcoholic beverage actually can cause cancer, or cause a tumor to grow to the point detected by patients or their doctors ... 

Kono, S., and Ikeda, M., 1979, Correlation between cancer mortality and alcoholic beverages in Japan, Br. J. Cancer 40 449. 

Tuyns, A. J., 1979, Cancer and alcoholic beverages, in Fermented Food Beverages in Nutrition, pp. 427-436, Academic Press, Inc., New York. 

Longnecker MP, Orza MJ, Adams ME, Vioque J, Chalmers TC. A meta-analysis of alcoholic beverage consumption in relation to risk of colorectal cancer. Cancer Causes Control. 1990 1(1) 59—68. 

Dietary Supplements(Health Foods. Chinese rhubarb used in various laxative formulations included as an ingredient in the unconventional cancer treatment formula Essiac for which the garden rhubarb is sometimes erroneously substituted. Tonic rhubarb alcoholic beverages are made in China and Italy. ... 

Other chemicals do not directly act on DNA, but exert their carcinogenic effects by targeting other systems linked with protein production and use. These are known as epigenetic chemicals. Examples of these types of chemicals include asbestos, which causes a specific and rare form of lung cancer called mesothelioma estradiol, the natural female hormone referred to as estrogen saccharin, used as an artificial sweetener in the 1970s until it was reported In 1977 to lead to bladder tumors in mice and ethanol, contained in all alcoholic beverages. 

Urethane [51-79-6] (ethyl carbamate) occurs as a natural by-product in fermented products such as wine, Hquors, yogurt, beer, bread, oHves, cheeses, and soy sauces. Whereas urethane has a known cancer etiology in experimental animals, no such relationship has yet been proven in humans (108,109). Alcohol may act by blocking the metaboHsm of urethane, and thus exert a protective effect in humans consuming alcohoHc beverages (110). 

A number of investigators have found a consistent relationship between mortality from esophageal cancer and ethanol consumption (3-5). These observations have been supported by case-control studies (6-8) which have shown strong correlations between alcohol consumption and esophageal cancer but without consistent association with any specific type of beverage (9,10). ... 

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