Alcohol is considered to be linked with a major cause of several types of cancer including breast cancer in women, cancers of the mouth, esophagus, stomach, pharynx, larynx, ovaries, colorectal or bowel cancer and liver cancer. A unit of World Health Organization (WHO) called, The International Agency for Research on Cancer has classified alcohol as Group 1 Carcinogen proving that alcoholic beverages are carcinogenic to humans. There are several possible mechanisms under which alcohol can work as a carcinogen. Some of the mechanisms are mentioned as follows:
1. Acetaldehyde: The liver produces acetaldehyde after the break down ethanol present in alcohol. The liver can break down about 99 percent of the acetaldehyde from the body. A defect in the gene alcohol dehydrogenase may affect the breakdown of ethanol and this may cause a more than normal percentage of acetaldehyde in the body. Those individuals with a defective gene have a great risk of being prone to cancers of the liver and gastrointestinal tract.
2. Epithelial mesenchymal transition: It is suggested that alcohol stimulates the EMT i.e. epithelial mesenchymal transition due to which normal cancerous cells transform into an aggressive form and start spreading across the body.
Alcohol affects cancer progression: According to a research conducted on patients with type C cirrhosis, there was an increase in the progression of tumor growth of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) under the influence of alcohol intake known as alcohol influenced tumor volume doubling time (TVDT).
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