DeKalb expert weighs in on alcohol, cancer risk

Guidance issued recently by the nation’s top doctor is calling upon consumers to be better informed about the causal link between alcohol consumption and increased risk for cancer.

A local expert took time to weigh in on the advisory warning and what it means to the public.

Amit Bhate, a radiation oncologist at Northwestern Medicine, said the guidance seeks to create greater awareness about the dangers of alcohol.

“According to the data that we have, even any alcohol consumption can increase the risk of cancer,” Bhate said. “I don’t think you can actually say there is a safe level of alcohol.”

Alcohol is a leading cause of cancer, a risk that should be clearly labeled on drinks Americans consume, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy proposed earlier this month, The Associated Press reported. Murthy’s advisory comes as research and evidence mounts about the bad effects that alcohol has on human health, but his proposal for a label would require a rare approval from the U.S. Congress.

Americans should be better informed about the link between alcohol and cancer, in particular, Murthy argues in his advisory, noting alcohol consumption is to blame for nearly one million preventable cancer cases in the U.S. over the last decade. About 20,000 people die every year from those alcohol-related cancer cases, according to his advisory.

When asked if there are certain types of alcohol better than others, Bhate said they’re all the same.

Guidance from the nation’s top doctor equates a 12-ounce glass of wine to a 1.5-ounce shot and a 12-ounce beer on a molecular level.

“It does not matter because it’s really the alcohol itself,” Bhate said. “That’s what the risk factor is. And they all have the same on a molecular level. It’s the same alcohol.”

Bhate said he doesn’t believe it is the intent of the guidance to force people who drink regularly to do without alcohol altogether.

“I don’t think that the surgeon general’s warning is there to say people have to stop drinking,” he said. “I think it’s more of people assessing risks of what they are comfortable with.”

There is a host of research suggesting red wine may have benefits. But how much weight should people give it?

Bhate said therein lays one of the challenges with drinking.

“There was data to suggest that low-level of drinking red wine potentially could be healthy for the heart,” Bhate said. “Now there are competing risks. It still would have that benefit on the heart, but then it also has a downfall of that it can increase your cancer risk.”

It remains unclear if the damage that alcohol may cause to the body can be reversed.

“I don’t think that at this point in time that is known,” Bhate said. “In most cancers, the risk is there irrespective if people stopped.”

The Associated Press contributed.