> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.foodconsumer.org/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Alcohol boosts pancreatic cancer risk - study
- URL: https://www.foodconsumer.org/alcohol_boosts_pancreatic_cancer_021110100706/
- Published: 2010-11-02T08:05:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-22T15:56:42.000Z
- Description: A meta-analysis of 21 case-control and 11 cohort studies in the International Journal of Cancer found people drinking three or more drinks a day were 22 percent more likely to develop pancreatic cancer. Separately, British scientists rated alcohol the most harmful drug overall.
- Author: Food Consumer
- Tags: Nutrition, Alcohol, Pancreatic Cancer, Esophageal Cancer, Breast Cancer, #vivvo-import

By David Liu

Professor David Nutt and colleagues from Britain's Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs said Monday that alcohol is more harmful than crack and heroin combined.

The British scientists presented a new scale of drug harm to rate the damage a drug causes to users themselves and to the society saying alcohol is most harmful overall and almost three times as harmful as cocaine or tobacco.

Among the dangerous drugs, heroin and crack cocaine rank as the second and third most dangerous drugs.

Nutt was quoted as saying "aggressively targeting alcohol harms is a valid and necessary public health strategy". He said they also showed that current drug classification systems had little relation to the evidence of harm."

Alcohol is mostly known as a cancer promoting agent that can promote many types of cancers including breast cancer. The U.S. National Toxicology Program recognizes alcohol beverages as human carcinogens, meaning that use of it can boost cancer risk.

Studies continue to yield evidence that drinking alcohol boosts cancer risk.

A study in International Journal of Cancer suggests that drinking alcohol boosts pancreatic cancer, which kills more than 95 percent of patients within five years of diagnosis.

The study led by Irene Tramacere at Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche “Mario Negri” in Milano, Italy and colleagues meta-analysed data from 21 case-control studies and 11 cohort studies published up to March 2009 and found the association.

Specifically, the researchers found those who drank three or more drinks per day were 22 percent more likely to develop pancreatic cancer. 

The increase in the risk induced by alcohol was similar in men and women, but was greater in cohort studies, that is, 29 percent.

Based on data from high quality studies, the researchers found those who used three or more drinks per day were 30 percent more likely to develop pancreatic cancer. The increase couldn't be explained by confounders like history of pancreatitis or tobacco smoking.

Tramacere at al. wrote: "This meta-analysis provides strong evidence for the absence of a role of moderate drinking in pancreatic carcinogenesis, coupled to an increased risk for heavy alcohol drinking."

In another study published in the World Journal of Gastroenterology, Taiwanese researchers compared 51 women with esophageal cancer and 204 healthy controls and found those drinking 158 grams of alcohol per week were 20 times as likely as those who never drank alcohol to develop esophageal cancer.

The study was conducted by Shu-Yu Tai at Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital in Taiwan, China and colleagues.

Compared to smoking tobacco or cigarettes which carries a weak warning, alcohol beverages often do not carry any warning to remind food consumers that they can boost cancer risk.

Editor's note; We hope David Nutt's findings can remind drinkers that alcohol is harmful even though it is legal.