Alcohol linked to stomach cancer 

A new study says heavy beer drinkers with a genetic variant known as rs1230025 in a cluster of three genes are at higher risk for developing non-cardia gastric cancer.

Eric Duell, Ph.D. of the Catalan Institute of Oncology in Barcelona, Spain, author of the study, says "Having both of these risks — heavy beer consumption and rs1230025 — appears to be worse in terms of gastric cancer risk than having just one or neither."

Noncardia gastric cancers, also known as lower stomach cancers are often caused by chronic mucosal infection by the bacterium Helicobacter pylori. How alcohol affects the risk of the cancer remains inconclusive.

Duell and colleagues also found the risk for gastric cancer was higher in heavy beer drinkers who did not have the genetic variant in the cluster of genes, which are involved in metabolizing alcohol.

Non drinkers who had the variant rs1230025 or rs283411 were also found at elevated risk for gastric cancer.

Specifically, those who drank more than 30 grams of alcohol or ethanol or 28 ounces per day were 75 percent more likely to be diagnosed with gastric cancer.

The association is based on data from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition or EPIC study from 1992 through 1998 involving more than 521,000 men and women aged 35 to 70.

However, no association was found between drinking wine and liquor and risk of gastric cancer.

Further analysis of 365 cases of gastric cancer and 1,284 controls who were also involved in the EPIC, found two variants in the gene cluster involved in making an enzyme that metabolizes alcohol affect gastric cancer risk. But only rs1230025 makes beer drinkers more vulnerable to the malignancy.

Duell et al presented their study at the American Association for Cancer Research 102nd Annual Meeting 2011 , held April 2 to 6 in Orlando, Florida.

The researchers, according to the press release by the AACR, believe acetaldehyde, a carcinogenic metabolite of ethanol, and nitrosamines found in beer are responsible for the increase in risk of gastric cancer.

Gastric cancer or stomach cancer was diagnosed in 21,000 men and women in the United States in 2010 and the disease killed 10,570 in the same year, according to the National Cancer Institute.

Alcoholic beverages such as liquor, wine and beers are known carcinogens, according to the U.S. National Toxicology Program.  

David Liu

Photo credit: wikipedia