Two or more drinks a day may increase risk of prostate cancer

17 March 2009

An international research team from Australia, Canada and the US has found that men who drank two or more standard drinks of alcohol a day are more likely to develop prostate cancer.

The findings are in marked contrast to previous reviews that found inconclusive evidence of an association between alcohol use and incidence of prostate cancer.

The findings were put out by the National Drug Research Institute (NDRI) study, Alcohol Use and Prostate Cancer, where a meta-analysis was co-authored by Professor Kaye Fillmore and Dr. Alan Bostrom, from the University of California San Francisco (UCSF). Associate Professor Tanya Chikritzhs and Research Associate Richard Pascal, from the National Drug Research Institute (based at Curtin University of Technology in Western Australia); and Professor Tim Stockwell, director of the University of Victoria's Centre for Addictions Research of BC (CARBC). The study is published in Molecular Nutrition and Food Research.

The researchers reviewed 35 studies examining the relationship between level of drinking and the risk of developing prostate cancer. They found that some types of studies were more likely to find the relationship ("case control" studies) and others less likely ("cohort" studies), which explains different conclusions reached by other researchers.

When all types of studies were combined, however, the authors concluded: "Men who drink two or more standard drinks a day or 14 drinks a week or more have about a 20-per cent greater chance of developing prostate cancer."

What about protective effects? There is irony to the study findings. Much research has suggested that if middle aged and older men use alcohol at the rate of about 14 drinks a week this may prevent coronary heart disease, although recent evidence has suggested that the preventative power of alcohol may have been overstated.