WHO explains how alcohol raises cancer risk

Alcohol is a leading cause of cancer across Europe, Euronews writes.

Experts say stronger government policies to curb drinking could prevent thousands of cancer cases and deaths each year.

In the European Union alone, the subregion with the heaviest alcohol consumption in the world, alcohol caused more than 111,000 new cancer cases in 2020, according to the new scientific review from the World Health Organization’s (WHO) cancer research agency, known as the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).

Worldwide, that number reached an estimated 741,000 cases, with men accounting for almost 70 per cent of new cancers.

IARC first classified alcohol as carcinogenic in 1988. It says alcohol raises the risk of at least seven types of cancer, including cancers of the mouth, pharynx, larynx, oesophagus, liver, colorectum, and female breast.

Researchers believe alcohol causes cancer through multiple mechanisms, including altered hormone levels, changes to the gut microbiome, and DNA damage from oxidative stress and the metabolite acetaldehyde, which is found in ethanol.

Reducing or quitting alcohol lowers the risk of developing these cancers.