Even very moderate alcohol consumption can increase the risk of oral cancer, especially when combined with other risk factors, such as chewing tobacco. This follows from a new scientific study, which points out that even one alcoholic drink a day can increase the risk of this disease by approximately fifty percent.
Oral cancer is the eleventh most common type of cancer worldwide and is particularly common in South Asia, particularly India. However, until now it was not entirely clear how exactly the combination of the main risk factors affects the probability of developing this disease.
The authors of a new study published in the professional journal BMJ Global Health show that the consumption of alcohol – even in quantities equivalent to one glass a day – combined with chewing tobacco, a common practice in South Asia, has an extremely strong negative effect. According to researchers, this combination could be responsible for nearly two-thirds of all oral cancer cases in India.
The authors discovered the most significant association in persons who consumed locally produced alcoholic beverages. In the study, researchers compared data from 1,803 people aged 35 to 54 who had been diagnosed with buccal mucosal (cheek lining) cancer with data from 1,903 randomly selected people without the disease.. Participants provided information on the length and frequency of alcohol consumption and the types of beverages they drank.
Eleven internationally popular alcoholic beverages such as beer, whiskey, vodka, rum and mixed drinks were included in the analysis, as well as thirty types of locally produced alcohol. Participants were also asked about tobacco use, including duration of use and specific form.
The results show that frequent alcohol consumption is strongly associated with an increased risk of cancer, with the largest effect seen for locally produced alcoholic beverages. However, the increased risk appeared even with a very small amount of alcohol – even with the consumption of approximately two grams of beer per day.
According to the study, consumption of one standard alcoholic drink per day, which is equivalent to about nine grams of alcohol, was associated with a risk of mouth cancer higher by about fifty percent. The combined effect of alcohol and tobacco then led to a more than fourfold increase in risk.
