Even moderate drinking may substantially raise risk of dying from cancer

Source: www.nydailynews.com Author: Tracy Miller, New York Daily News Alcohol causes about 19,500 cancer deaths each year — and even as little as 1.5 drinks per day can make you part of that statistic, according to a sobering new study. The research, published in the American Journal of Public Health, is the first in several decades to examine deaths from a variety of cancers that can be attributed to alcohol consumption, said lead study author David E. Nelson of the National Cancer Institute. "One of the reasons we did the study was to update data that hadn't been looked at for 30 years," Nelson told the Daily News. "In that time, other diseases, and other cancers, have been linked to alcohol." The researchers looked at mortality data from two national surveys conducted in 2009, and using a mathematical formula, determined which of the cancer deaths were alcohol related. About 3.2 to 3.7% of all cancer deaths in 2009 were attributed to alcohol, with oral cancers, pharynx, larynx and esophageal cancers the top killers in men, and breast cancer the most deadly in women. About 15% of all breast cancer deaths were attributable to alcohol consumption, the study found. Furthermore, while the risk of death was greatest among people who had three or more drinks per day, about 30% of deaths occurred among people who consumed 20 ounces, the equivalent of 1.5 drinks, per day. "There's no question that people who drink more frequently are at greater risk," Nelson said. "What [...]