Linking Alcohol to Cancer - Recent Survey

People lack awareness of link between alcohol and cancer, BMJ Survey 2016; 

  

Lustrous Wooden Cabinet with Health..

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 http://alcoholireland.ie/facts/alcohol-and-costs/

Lustrous Wooden Cabinet with Health..

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Anne Gulland - Author affiliations

1. London

Most people do not link the consumption of alcohol with an increased risk of cancer, a report by Cancer Research UK has found.1

In a survey of 2100 adults in England, just 13% of respondents identified cancer when asked, “Which, if any health conditions, do you think can result from drinking too much alcohol?”

The survey also highlighted a lack of understanding of the link between drinking alcohol and the risk of developing certain types of cancer. When asked about seven different cancer types, 80% of respondents said that they thought that alcohol caused liver cancer, but only 18% were aware of alcohol’s link with breast cancer.

The study showed that only one in five people could correctly identify the previous recommended maximum number of units that should not be exceeded in a day, as recommended at the time the survey was carried out, in 2015.

Among drinkers, just one in 10 men (10.8%) and one in seven women (15.2%) correctly identified these recommended limits and used them to track their drinking habits.

Alison Cox, Cancer Research UK’s director of cancer prevention, said, “The link between alcohol and cancer is now well established, and it’s not just heavy drinkers who are at risk. This is reflected in the new guidelines issued by the UK’s chief medical officers that stated that the risk of developing a range of illnesses, including cancer, increased with any amount of alcohol you drink.”

In January this year the United Kingdom’s chief medical officers introduced new drinking guidelines,2 which recommended that men and women should drink no more than 14 units of alcohol a week, spread evenly over three days or more. They also recommended that people abstain from alcohol for several days a week.

Ian Gilmore, chair of the Alcohol Health Alliance UK, said that the public’s lack of awareness of the link between alcohol consumption and cancer was “extremely concerning.”

Gilmore said, “The chief medical officers have been clear in their new alcohol guideline that there is no level of drinking which can be considered ‘safe’ from these risks. As the CMOs emphasise, the public have a right to know about the link between alcohol and cancer and other health risks, so that they can make an informed choice about their drinking habits.”

View Abstract

Recommended Articles:

1. Effect of policy, economics, and the changing alcohol marketplace on alcohol related deaths in England and Wales.
   Nick Sheron et al., The BMJ, 2016
2. Review of moderate alcohol consumption and reduced risk of coronary heart disease: is the effect due to beer, wine, or spirits.
   E B Rimm et al., The BMJ, 1996
3. Estimating the population at risk
   Philip Sedgwick et al., The BMJ, 2012
4. Science commentary: Why wine might be less harmful than beer and spirits
   Abi Berger et al., The BMJ, 1998
5. Alcohol and blood pressure: the INTERSALT study.
   M G Marmot et al., The BMJ, 1994

 

1. Alcohol Plays A Huge Role In Cancer Deaths In The U.S.
   Medical News Today, 2013
2. Reduce alcohol consumption, say new guidelines
   Yvette Brazier, Medical News Today
3. Coffee Linked To Reduced Liver Cancer Risk
   Catharine Paddock PhD, Medical News Today, 2007
4. Alcohol and the Brain: Healthy or Harmful?
   Bret S. Stetka, MD, Medscape, 2015
5. Just one or two drinks a day could increase risk for certain cancers
   Honor Whiteman, Medical News Today, 2015

  

 

 

Study on Alcohol and Pregnancy

Pregnant women have been warned that even half a glass of wine can cause a foetus to stop breathing and moving for as long as two hours

Professor Peter Hepper of Queen's University in Belfast examined the effects of low-level alcohol exposure during pregnancy by using 18-week scans on women who drank an average of a glass of wine a week.

He found that during the scans, the foetuses stopped breathing and moving, sometimes for up to two hours.

They could suddenly jump and turn themselves over. These jolts suggested that their brains were not developing properly.

His advice is that the "only safe level of alcohol is zero" for pregnant women. This ties in with the advice of the Department of Health.

He said the foetus should be continually active.

It is already accepted that drinking heavily throughout pregnancy can cause a baby to develop a serious condition called foetal alcohol syndrome (FAS).

Children with FAS have restricted growth, facial abnormalities and learning and behavioural disorders.

Drinking alcohol is potentially most harmful for a foetus in the first three months of pregnancy, when it is linked to miscarriage and to birth abnormalities.

Irish women with higher levels of income and education are more likely to drink alcohol weekly during their pregnancy, a Growing Up in Ireland study found.  "Some groups of women drink lower levels continuously while other women binge drink at weekends and don't drink during the week," he said.

"Binge drinking is potentially more harmful because there is  more exposure to alcohol but I don't think there's any evidence to suggest that if you drink lower amounts of alcohol more regularly, it's any less harmful or somehow more safe."

View more information here Foetal Behaviour Research Centre

Early Deaths Through Alcohol Related Illnesses

PEOPLE as young as 20 have died from alcohol-related illnesses, one of the countries leading consultants has revealed.  Dr. Stephen Stewart, a consultant hepatologist in the Mater Hospital, Dublin said there has been a stark increase in the number of young people who are presenting themselves in hospitals with alcohol related illnesses in recent years.

 Dr. Stewart revealed that he seen one young man suffering from the ill-effects of alcohol who was just 18-years-old.  "It used to be 60-year-old men, and now it is very commonly 30- and 40-year-old women, as well as those men," Dr. Stewart explained.

"There is only one guy who I saw that was 18, there was one guy who was 20-years-old who died from an alcohol related liver disease. We are seeing progressively more young to middle-aged people with end-stage liver disease.

"They are coming in jaundiced, with cirrhosis and with bad addiction. Some of those are starting drinking very young in their life, in the mid to late teens," Dr. Stewart said.  Cirrhosis is a potentially life threatening serious liver disease which occurs after large amounts of regular tissue is replaced by scar tissue in the liver.

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"Alcohol is the World Health Organisation's class one carcinogen. It's one of the few really well-known cancer causing agents", said Dr. Stewart.

"The real problems come from repeated, even moderate to heavy use . . . It increases risk of cancer, it increases risk of liver disease. It massively increases risk of breast cancer and suicide. Those are the issues long-term," he added.

View article here

Alcohol Forum National Conference 2nd April 2014

As part of Alcohol Awareness Week 31st March - 4th April 2014 the 

National Alcohol Conference is taking place on Wednesday 2nd April

This year’s theme is “Alcohol’s Harm to Others” (click here to link to HSE report): When Their Drinking Becomes Your Problem”specifically highlighting the following KEY areas:

• Family problems
• Assaults, Crime & Anti-social behaviour
• Passengers travelling with a driver under the influence of alcohol
• Workplace accidents and loss of productivity

Key Note Speakers

Prof. Robin Room

Director, Centre for Alcohol and Policy Research at the University of Melbourne and advisor to the World Health Organisation since 1975

“Alcohol’s Harm to Others”

Prof. Moira Plant

Director of the Alcohol and Health Research Unit and Professor of Alcohol Studies at the University of the West of England - Bristol

“Women and Alcohol Related Harm”.

Mr. Joe Doyle

HSE National Planning Specialist, Social Inclusion

"Responding to the Recommendations in the Steering Group Report on a National Substance Misuse Strategy"

Dr. Ann Hope

Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Trinity College, Dublin

“Alcohol’s Harm to Others in Ireland”

Dr. Michael Byrne

Head of Student Health Department, UCC-

“University College Cork: Tackling Alcohol Related Harm”

Dr. Helen Mc Monagle

Rehabilitation Coordinator with the Alcohol Forum

“The Impact of Alcohol Related Brain Injury on the Family and Society”

Launch of ARBI Care Guide