Exhaustive Review of the Literature Reveals Even Moderate Alcohol Intake Increases Risk of Cancer

The Cancer Institute of New South Wales, Australia, has released a comprehensive analysis of current evidence for the association between alcohol consumption and risk of cancer. Limited to systematic reviews and meta-analyses of the highest methodological quality, the 194-page monograph, entitled Alcohol as a Cause of Cancer, revealed that even moderate alcohol consumption is associated with an often dramatic increase in the risk of several types of cancer.

Key findings are as follows:

Alcohol intake of approximately 2 drinks per day increases the risk of

• cancer of the oral cavity and pharynx by 75 percent,
• the risk of esophageal cancer by 50 percent, and
• the risk of laryngeal cancer by 40 percent.

Moderate intake also significantly increases the risk of colorectal cancer, liver cancer, and stomach cancer.

• Intake of approximately 4 drinks per day increases the risk of any cancer by 22 percent, while
• 8 drinks per day increases the risk by 90 percent.

The risk of breast cancer is 11 to 22 percent higher in women who drink alcohol than in women who do not.

Comments: The authors were unable to identify levels of consumption associated with no risk of cancer. Although the World Health Organization lists alcohol as a Group-1 carcinogen, as noted in the introduction to this study, few people are aware that even moderate consumption can cause cancer. These findings may be limited by possible underreporting of alcohol use or misclassification of exposure (e.g., light or ex-drinkers classified as nondrinkers).

Nonetheless, information about the association between alcohol and cancer needs to be more widely available so that the public can make informed choices about their behavior.

Richard Saitz, MD, MPH. Research Reference; Lewis S, Campbell S, Proudfoot E, et al. Alcohol as a Cause of Cancer. Sydney, Cancer Institute NSW, May 2008.

See also;

• Brief-TSF can assist patients cease alcohol consumption.
• Twelve Step Facilitation
• 12-Step Treatment More Effective than Alternative
• Subscribe to BriefTSF by e-Mail

Counselling for Alcohol Problems (Counselling in Practice series) by Richard D B Velleman Read more about this title…

Women Can Inherit Drinking Problem Too, Study Finds

In the first major twin study to compare genetic and environmental factors that contribute to the risk of alcoholism in both sexes, researchers have found that genetics plays an important role in determining alcohol dependence in women as well as in men. The study contradicts the long-held assumption that a woman’s environment is more likely to influence whether she becomes dependent on alcohol.

The study was conducted by scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Australian collaborators at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research. It was funded by the U.S. National Institute of Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse, and the findings were published in a recent issue of the journal Psychological Medicine.

While there is ample evidence for an important genetic influence on alcoholism risk in men, the tie between genetics and alcoholism in women has been uncertain, said the paper’s lead author, Andrew Heath, Ph.D., a professor of psychiatry at Washington University.

The study sought to address this shortcoming. It involved 2,685 pairs of twins, all participants in an adult twin study started in Australia in 1978 and maintained by the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council. The two members of each pair were raised in the same home environment. The study included — for the first time — twins of opposite sex as well as twins that were either both male or both female.

Telephone interviews with the twins were conducted to assess whether the participants had lost control over their drinking, were unable to cut back on drinking or had similar problems with alcohol.

Twins who had an alcoholic identical twin were much more likely to be alcoholic themselves than were twins who had an alcoholic fraternal twin, and this was equally true in women and in men. More surprisingly, men who had an alcoholic twin sister had very high rates of alcoholism.

“If shared environmental factors are of predominant importance in women but genetic influences predominate in men — a commonly held belief — then we would have expected to see very low concordance for alcoholism of unlike-sex twin pairs,” Heath said. “That wasn’t the case.”

The study also found that women with an alcoholic identical (monozygotic) twin sister were six times more likely to be alcohol dependent than other women. Monozygotic twins share the same genetic makeup. Dizygotic, or nonidentical, twins, who are not more alike genetically than ordinary sisters, were only three times more likely to be alcohol dependent if their twin had a drinking problem.

The study also examined whether psychiatric disorders that commonly precede or coexist with alcoholism, such as childhood behavior problems like lying and stealing or depression, were as strongly associated with risk of alcoholism in women as in men.

“It used to be believed that depression predicted increased risk of alcohol problems in women, whereas a history of childhood behavior problems predicted alcoholism risk in men. We found that depression is a potent predictor for alcohol dependence in both men and women,” said Heath. “A history of behavior problems also is as strong a predictor in women than in men — slightly more powerful in women, in fact.”

Heath AC, Bucholz KK, Madden PAF, Dinwiddie SH, Slutske WS, Bierut LJ, Statham DJ, Dunne MP, Whitfield JB, Martin NG. “Genetic and Environmental Contributions to Alcohol Dependence Risk in a National Twin Sample — Consistency of Findings in Women and Men”. Psychological Medicine. 27(6):1381-1396, 1997 November.

The more alcohol an individual drinks, the more the risk of suicide grows, according to a researcher at Canada’s Center for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH).

All Headline News reported Sept. 8 that CAMH senior researcher Robert Mann found that while suicide risk rose with alcohol consumption, as well as other factors like unemployment, the risk of suicide decreased when heavy drinkers joined Alcoholics Anonymous.

“These results suggest that a 1-liter increase in alcohol consumption led to an increase of 11 percent to 39 percent in suicides,” said Mann. “This observation is consistent with individual-level studies that show that heavy drinking, alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence increase a person’s risk of suicide substantially … However, it was heartening to see that increasing AA membership was related to reduced suicide mortality rates.”

The link between drinking and suicide was stronger among women than men, Mann noted.

Night Falls Fast: Understanding Suicide by Kay Redfield Jamison Read more about this title…

Aims; To describe alcohol use, and the prevalence and predictors of hazardous drinking, among hospital doctors.

Methods. Data were collected by anonymous mail survey in 2006, from a representative national sample of 1917 (58% response rate) hospital doctors in Germany. Alcohol use was measured using the AUDIT-C, scores of 5 or more for males and females indicating “hazardous drinking.”

Results. There were;

• 9.5% abstainers,
• 70.7% moderate drinkers, and
• 19.8% hazardous drinkers.
• The majority of doctors (90.5%) used alcohol—mainly at a sensible level, e.g., 2–4 times a month (32%) or 2–3 times a week (29%), and 1–2 glasses on one occasion (83%).
• Binge drinking was common (53%), but for most occurred less than once in a month (39%).
• When hazardous drinking was controlled for certain confounders, being male (OR 4.7; 95% CI 3.4–6.5) and having a surgical specialty (OR 1.4; 1.1–1.8) were significantly correlated to hazardous drinking.
• Age had no influence on this model.
• By contrast, the age group 40 years and younger (OR 2.1; 1.4–3.0) was a significant predictor of abstinence.

Conclusions. There is a higher rate of abstainers and a lower rate of binge drinkers among hospital doctors in Germany than in the general population. However, some hospital doctors drink hazardously, the risk being greater among males and among surgeons, which should be paid due attention in the interest of their health and their function as doctors.

Alcohol and Alcoholism 2008 43(2):198-203.Hazardous alcohol use among hospital doctors in Germany, Judith Rosta

See also;

• 12-Step Treatment More Effective than Alternative
• Twelve Step Facilitation
• Subscribe to BriefTSF by e-Mail

Difference in medical history classified by ICD-10 between male and female alcoholics.

The drinking history and current medical history of patients with alcohol dependence were surveyed in Japan and they were analyzed by demographics; gender, age and changes with time (2 stages).

The results showed that in the course of continued habitual drinking by patients with alcohol dependence, a wide range of physical complications occurred.

The main complications

• in men were gastrointestinal diseases and
• in women were mental and behavioral disorders, showing a gender difference in the medical history.

This result suggested that there is a high possibility that this will contribute to early discovery and early measures against alcohol related problems in women, which are difficult to bring out into the open.

Better alcohol education including mental health is important from an early age.

Nihon Arukoru Yakubutsu Igakkai Zasshi. 2008 Feb;43(1):25-34. Difference in medical history classified by ICD-10 between male and female alcoholics. Shinoda R, Mizukami Y, Nakagawa Y, Maruyama K.

See also;

• Brief-TSF is designed to address these issues.
• 12-Step Treatment More Effective than Alternative
• Subscribe to BriefTSF by e-Mail

Counseling the Culturally Diverse: Theory and Practice by Derald Wing Sue, David Sue Read more about this title…

Patterns of alcohol consumption and blood alcohol levels in emergency room patients.

The study was conducted in a public hospital of the province of Jujuy, Argentina.

A survey was conducted among all patients during the 24 hours of 4 consecutive days (N = 500) using the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test, short version (AUDIT-C). Blood samples were collected in 84% of participants.

Results showed that;

• 37% were hazardous drinkers (men 50% vs. women 23%),
• 29% had symptoms of dependence (men 48% vs. women 11%);
• 17% of men and 3% of women had high blood alcohol levels, equal or greater than 50 mg/dl.

In multivariate logistic regression models men had;

• increased likelihood of hazardous drinking (Adjusted OR 3.2; 95% CI 2.1-5.0),
• symptoms of dependence (Adjusted OR 7.5; 95% CI 4.4-12.7) and
• increased blood alcohol levels (Adjusted OR 8.0; 95% CI 2.2-28.8), compared with women.

Patients admitted due to accidents, violence, or drug use, had;

• increased likelihood of hazardous drinking (Adjusted OR 2.4; 95% CI 1.5-3.9),
• dependence symptoms (Adjusted OR 2.0; 95% CI 1.2-3.3) and
• increased blood alcohol levels (Adjusted OR 7.7; 95% CI 3.0-19.8), compared with those admitted for other reasons.

Alcoholism has a significant impact on the occurrence of injuries and on the demand imposed on health services.

Prevention programs can potentially reduce the negative health and social impact of alcoholism.

Research; Medicina (B Aires). 2008;68(1):31-6. Alcohol consumption in the emergency room. Alderete E, Bianchini P.

See also;

• Brief-TSF can assist patients cease alcohol consumption.
• Twelve-Step Programs as an Adjunct to Psychotherapy and Psychopharmacology
• Subscribe to BriefTSF by e-Mail

Understanding and Counseling: Persons With Alcohol, Drug, and Behavioral Addictions by Howard Clinebell Read more about this title…

Research Summary; Women and men appear to have different genetic and environmental risk factors for alcoholism, Reuters reported Jan. 24/2006.

A quartet of new family studies on alcoholism show, for example, that while both sexes are more likely to develop alcoholism if they have a history of aggressive behavior in childhood, women who experienced severe physical punishment in childhood were also at elevated risk, while men were not.

“Clearly, there are some common antecedents (to alcoholism), such as conduct disorder or symptoms, but there are also predictors unique to each gender,” said researcher Aruna Gogineni of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “These are the kinds of findings that call out for many more studies on women in order to determine how the mechanisms of alcoholic parental risk may differ in men and women.”

Researchers affirmed that children of alcoholics were generally more likely to have alcohol problems themselves, but said that genetic makeup may be more important for men, while environmental factors may have more of an impact on women. For example, one study comparing children of biological and adopted parents with alcoholism found that male children of alcoholics related by blood were more likely to be alcoholics themselves.

The research appears in the February 2006 issue of the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.

From; Join Together Online

See also;

• 12-Step Treatment More Effective than Alternative
• Twelve Step Facilitation
• Brief-TSF can assist patients cease alcohol consumption.
• Subscribe to BriefTSF by e-Mail

Understanding and Counseling: Persons With Alcohol, Drug, and Behavioral Addictions : Counseling for Recovery and Prevention Using Psychology and Religion by Howard Clinebell Read more about this title…

• 12-Step Recovery Theory And Application
• AA And Al-Anon
• AA And The Disease Concept Of Alcoholism
• Adolescent Children Of Alcoholics
• Al-Anon Offers New Life
• Alcohol Consumption In Patients Pancreatitis
• Alcohol Metabolization
• Alcohol Related Brain Injury
• Alcoholic Brain Damage And Thiamine
• Alcoholic Jealousy
• Alcoholics Anonymous
• Alcoholics Can Benefit From Al-Anon
• Alcoholism And Personality Disorders
• Alcoholism Is Also Genetic
• Alcoholism Myths
• Anti-Craving Naltrexone Injection Reduce
• Benefits Of Alcoholics Anonymous
• Beyond Codependency
• Brief-TSF Description
• Children With Alcohol Dependent Fathers
• Counselor Characteristics
• Craving Reduction
• Effective Professional Interventions
• Effects Of Gambling Addiction
• Free Inhalant Abuse Education
• Just For Today Card
• Mindfulness Can Help Recovery
• Prescription Drug Overdose Becomes Big Killer
• Process Of Recovery For Alcoholic Women
• Research Evidence For TSF  .
• Return To Drinking After Liver Transplantation For Alcoholic Liver Disease
• Role Of Significant Others
• Screening Can Decrease Teen Risk Behaviour
• Sleep Problems Affect Alcoholism Recover
• Spirituality And Helping In Alcoholics Anonymous
• Strategies For Dealing With Common Problems
• Strategies For Dealing With Denial
• Sweet Tooth And Alcoholism
• Symptoms Of Alcoholism
• Teen Drinking Leads To Risk Of Alcoholism And Social Exclusion
• The Aging Alcoholic
• The Classification Of Alcoholics
• The Dry Drunk
• Thyroid Function In Depression And Alcohol Abuse
• TSF Description
• Twelve Step Recovery Is Spiritual
• Twelve Steps To Recovery From Burnout
• What About Partners Of Alcoholics?

Subscribe to BriefTSF by e-Mail

Psychopathology of Children with Alcohol Dependent Fathers.

SUMMARY; Objective: In this study, we aimed to research cognitive, behavioral and psychopathological differences between children of fathers with alcohol dependency (ACOA’s) and children of fathers without alcohol dependency (non-ACOA’s).

Method of research: A battery of psychological tests was performed on 46 children of 34 alcoholic fathers and 36 children of 34 non-alcoholic fathers, between the ages of 6 and 16 years were evaluated. Two groups were matched with each other on the basis of socioeconomic level of family, age and gender of children.

Results: The findings of this research indicated that children of alcoholic fathers had a higher incidence of psychopathology.

Frequency of DSM-IV Diagnoses in the Study and Control Groups.

Teacher Report collaboration scores were higher in research group.

It was also found that mothers in research group had higher level of psychiatric symptoms.

Conclusion: Alcohol dependent patients are an easily available group for clinicians.

It can be more realistic to treat alcohol dependency as a family disease because of associated psychiatric problems in children and mothers.

In addition to alcohol dependent fathers, including mothers and children in the psychiatric assessment and treatment plans may become a preventive step for the child.

Research report; Sadriye Ebru ÇENGEL KÜLTÜR, M. Fatih ÜNAL, ?eniz ÖZUSTA. Psychopathology of Children with Alcohol Dependent Fathers. Turkish Journal of Psychiatry, 2006; 17(1)

Brief-TSF is designed to include all family members where appropriate

Gender, treatment and self-help in remission from alcohol use disorders.

OBJECTIVES: To examine gender differences in the influence of treatment, self-help groups and life context and coping factors on remission among initially untreated individuals with alcohol use disorders.

DESIGN: A naturalistic study in which individuals were assessed at baseline and 1, 8 and 16 years later.

SETTING: Participants initiated help-seeking with the alcoholism service system by contacting an information and referral service or detoxification program.

PARTICIPANTS: A total of 461 individuals with alcohol use disorders (50% women).

METHODS: Participants were assessed by mail surveys and telephone interviews on

• participation in professional treatment and
• Alcoholics Anonymous (AA),
• alcohol-related functioning and
• indices of life context and coping.

RESULTS: Compared to men, women were more likely to participate in treatment and AA, and to experience better alcohol-related and life context outcomes.

In general, women and men who participated in treatment and/or AA for a longer duration were more likely to achieve remission.

However, women benefited somewhat more than men from extended participation in AA.

Continuing depression and reliance on avoidance coping were more closely associated with lack of remission among men than among women.

CONCLUSION: Compared to men, women with alcohol use disorders were more likely to obtain help and achieve remission.

Women tended to benefit more from continued participation in AA and showed greater reductions in depression and avoidance coping than men did.

These findings identify specific targets for clinical interventions that appear to be especially beneficial for women and that may also enhance the likelihood of recovery among men.

Research; Moos RH, Moos BS, Timko C. Gender, treatment and self-help in remission from alcohol use disorders. Clin Med Res. 2006 Sep;4(3):163-74.