Alcohol and the risk of cancers of the stomach and colon-rectum

Abstract

Alcohol drinking is strongly related to cancer of the upper digestive tract, but the pattern of risk with alcohol drinking is clearly different for cancer of the stomach and colon-rectum. All twelve cohort studies and three-quarters of 40 case-control investigations on the topic weigh against the possibility of a substantial effect of alcohol consumption on the risk of stomach cancer. Evidence is still insufficient to establish whether cancer of the cardiac region of the stomach is related to alcohol intake to any different extent than the rest of the stomach. With reference to colorectal cancer, different types of epidemiological studies are consistent in suggesting some direct relations with alcohol drinking. The association, however, is moderate, and an elevated risk of a factor 2--or even of a factor 1.5--for both cancers of the colon and rectum can now be excluded even for the highest levels of alcohol consumption.