Oncologist Concurs -- Onset of Some Cancers Linked to Alcohol Abuse
by Mary Rettig
February 15, 2006
(AgapePress) - - A Tennessee oncologist says alcohol is often underestimated as a cancer cause, as one French study as reported. The study found that alcohol-related cancers are on the rise in poorer areas of the world, such as parts of the southern United States and eastern Europe. Dr. Jeffrey Allerton explains that the French study links excessive alcohol use with cancer of the mouth, larynx, esophagus, liver, colon, and breast. The link, he says, is very significant because of the rise in the number of alcohol-related cancers in areas of the world where alcohol consumption often begins at a very early age.
"I see that here in Tennessee," Allerton shares. "I have seen a significant increase compared to where it was before in early onset cancers related to alcohol and smoking. So I'm seeing cancers in people who are in their 30s that I normally would not have seen until their 60s and 70s."
The physician shares that he also saw evidence of alcohol-related cancers firsthand when he took a mission trip to several Russian hospitals to study the effect of Chernobyl.
"And in addition to finding a higher incidence of radiation-related cancers," he says, "one of the things that those oncologists told me in those areas was that, even if you took away the radiation effect, there was still a big rise in alcohol- and smoking-related cancers in that part of Asia and in Russia,"
Dr. Allerton says there have been many studies like these that link such things as cigarettes and alcohol with cancer, but scientists have yet to discover how they affect the onset of cancer.
Several years ago, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare reported that most alcohol-related deaths among women in that country were from alcohol-related cancer. Breast cancer accounted for more than half of those deaths, while esophageal and liver cancer accounted for 24 percent and 13 percent respectively.
Mary Rettig, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
