AFP :
Alcohol consumption was linked to 4% of all new global cancer cases last year, according to a study published on Wednesday, as researchers warned of an urgent need to alert people of the risks. Men accounted for more than three quarters of the estimated cases, which were mainly linked to risky or heavy drinking, although one in seven of these alcohol-related cancers were linked to moderate consumption of around two drinks a day. The study, published in the journal The Lancet Oncology, estimated that there were more than 6.3 million cases in 2020 of mouth, pharynx, voice box larynx, oesophageal, colon, rectum, liver, and breast cancer — all of which have established links to alcohol. Researchers also used a selection of data on alcohol sales, production, tax and consumption to estimate how much people drank per day in countries around the world in 2010 — giving a decade for the effect to materialise in possible cancer cases.
They estimated that 4% (741,300) of all new cases of cancer around the world in 2020 were associated with alcohol consumption, with men accounting for 77% (568,700 cases) of these and women 23%. The study found that the number of new cancer cases linked to alcohol consumption varied widely across the world, with the highest rates seen in East Asia and Central and Eastern Europe and the lowest in North Africa and Western Asia. The highest proportion of alcohol-related cases were estimated in Mongolia, China, Moldova, and Romania, while the lowest were in Kuwait, Libya, and Saudi Arabia.
