Alcohol a risk for prostate cancer
27 March 2009
Regular alcohol consumption increases the risk of prostate cancer, a new study shows, even at levels regarded as safe in recent National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) alcohol guidelines (Molecular Nutrition & Food Research 2009; 53(2): 240-55).
US and Australian researchers found men who drank 2 or more standard drinks a day had about a 20 per cent greater chance of developing prostate cancer.
Previous studies had reported conflicting findings about the association, however when researchers pooled the results of 35 studies they found alcohol consumption was positively linked to the risk of prostate cancer.
Prostate cancer risk increased with the level of alcohol intake, and at the same age that alcohol was thought to have a protective effect on the risk of cardiovascular disease, the authors said.
‘Recent evidence has suggested that the preventive power of alcohol may have been overstated,’ the authors said. ‘Taken together these findings emphasise the value for men to drink moderately.’
Associate Professor Mark Frydenberg, chairman of the urology department at Melbourne's Monash Medical Centre, said alcohol hadn’t really been put forward as a major risk factor for prostate cancer before, but diet had been one of the major factors that had been looked at previously.
‘Obviously, if these findings are correct, keeping alcohol intake down may have a protective effect against development of malignancies like prostate cancer,’ he said.
Last Reviewed: 27 March 2009
- 1. Middleton Fillmore K, Chikritzhs T, Stockwell T, Bostrom A, Pascal R. Alcohol use and prostate cancer: a meta-analysis. Mol Nutr Food Res 2009;53(2): 240-55
