BAD BAD reporter.

[goofball]

source

Correlation does not imply causation [censored].

LONDON, England (Reuters) -- Along with smoking and chronic infections, alcohol consumption is an important cause of several types of cancer, researchers said on Monday.

Excessive drinking raises the risk of cancer of the mouth, larynx, oesophagus, liver, colon and breast. It may also be linked with cancer of the pancreas and lung.

"Alcohol is underestimated as a cause of cancer in many parts of the world," said Dr Paolo Boffetta of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in Lyon, France.

"A sizeable proportion of cancer today is due to alcohol intake and this is increasing in many regions, particularly in east Asia and eastern Europe," he added in an interview.

Boffetta and Mia Hashibe, who reviewed research into the link between alcohol and cancer, found the more alcohol consumed, the higher the risk of developing cancer.

But they advised people to drink moderately, rather than give up alcohol completely, because of its protective benefits against cardiovascular disease.

"Total avoidance of alcohol, although optimum for cancer control, cannot be recommended in terms of broad perspective of public health, in particular in countries with high incidence of cardiovascular disease," Boffetta said in a report in The Lancet Oncology journal.

Instead, the scientists said men and women should limit how much alcohol they drink to reap the benefits but avoid the dangers.

"The most recent version of the European code against cancer recommends keeping daily consumption to two drinks for men and one for women," Boffetta noted.

In developed countries in 2000, the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that alcohol caused 185,000 deaths in men and 142,000 in women, but it prevented 71,000 male deaths and 277,000 female deaths in the same year.

In developing countries, where there are fewer cases of cardiovascular disease, alcohol was linked with 1.52 million deaths in men and 301,000 in women.

The scientists found that alcohol-related diseases were a particular problem in central and Eastern Europe.

"Alcohol is probably the main factor responsible for increased risk of head and neck cancer recorded in various countries, particularly in central and east Europe," said Boffetta.

Exactly how alcohol increases the odds of developing cancer is not clear but genetic susceptibility is an important component.

"Given the linear dose-response relation between alcohol intake and risk of cancer, control of heavy drinking remains the main target for cancer control," Boffetta added.

[Phil153]

No, but when there is a clear mechanism for causation, correlation strongly suggests it.

Alcohol is nasty, toxic [censored]. You'd be amazed at what excessive consumption does to the body on a cellular level.

[Marko Schmarko]

[ QUOTE ]
there is a clear mechanism for causation

[/ QUOTE ]
Do tell?
Or.. linky?

[Phil153]

The American Cancer Society: (200KB PDF)

"Many research studies have established the relationship between alcohol uses and cancer. The strongest associations are between alcohol and cancer are with mouth, esophageal, larygeal, pharyngeal, and liver cancers...Oral cancers are six times more common in alcohol users than in non alcohol users. Between 75% and 80% of all patients with oral cancer consume alcohol frequently"

Australia Cancer Society:

"Several hypotheses regarding mechanisms of action have been proposed for how alcohol consumption affects cancer risk. Both local and systemic effects may explain the biological mechanisms for how alcohol influences cancer risk. Further studies are needed to determine causal pathways.

Ethanol may be the main carcinogenic agent in alcoholic beverages either through irritation of the epithelium or through the formation of acetaldehyde [15]. The first step in alcohol metabolism is the oxidation of alcohol to acetaldehyde, via the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH). Acetaldehyde is the primary metabolite of ethanol, which has been shown to be mutagenic by binding to DNA [15]. Therefore alcohol can be regarded more as a co-carcinogen, facilitating tumour initiation or acting as a tumour promoter - rather than a tumour initiator itself.

It seems as if alcohol plays an important role in anatomical sites where it comes into direct contact with the tissue, by increasing the penetration of carcinogens across the mucosa. This may be through increasing the solubility of carcinogens entering the oral mucosa or perhaps increasing the permeability of the oral mucosa [15]. As well a decrease in salivary flow would lead to a decreased clearing of mucosal surfaces, which could lead to accumulation of carcinogens [15].

Alcoholic drinks may contain carcinogenic contaminants such as nitrosamines, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and mycotoxins, as well as a wide variety of esters, phenols and other compounds derived from interaction between the original plant material and the production processes [3].

Alcohol may have systemic effects as well as local effects. Firstly it is known that heavy drinkers are frequently malnourished and chronic alcohol consumption may affect the liver's ability to deal with toxic or potentially carcinogenic compounds [15]. Secondly, it has been suggested that alcohol may have an immunosuppressive effect [15]. However the systemic effects of alcoholic beverages are thought to be not as strong as the local effects "

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There are clearly many ways in which alcohol can cause cancer or increase susceptibility. Which ones, and exactly how they work, still needs to be determined with certainty.

But my point is that where there exists a highly plausible causal mechanism, or a number of them, AND there are statistically significant correlations across a number of studies, causation is a no brainer.