Drinking and Cancer: It’s Complicated

Let's start with the basics: Some people drink; some people get cancer. But wait: Different people drink different alcoholic beverages; different people get different cancers. Scientists are not ready to warn dry martini drinkers that they are increasing their risk of hodgkins lymphoma, but some McGill University researchers are persuaded that too much beer or spirits (not wine) increases the risk of 13 types of cancer, including esophageal, colon, stomach, liver, lung and prostate cancers. One recent study, for example, revealed that heavy drinking particular raises the risk for developing aggressive prostate cancer, while undermining the effectiveness of the popular prostate cancer
prevention drug finasteride (Proscar). Another study suggested that even moderate drinking might elevate risk for breast,
liver and other cancer. Yes, it gets complicated, but intrepid readers can find more on drinking and cancer at HealthDay.