Sep 8, 2007 12:45 am US/Eastern
USC Study Find Links Between Cancer, Alcohol
LOS ANGELES (CBS) ―
According to a study released by USC, post-menopausal women who drink two or more alcoholic beverages per day double their risk of endometrial cancer.
The study is the first to report a "significant association between alcohol and endometrial cancer," said Veronica Wendy Setiawan, assistant professor of preventive medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC.
Endometrial cancer, which attacks the lining of the uterus, is the most common cancer of the female reproductive system. It accounts for about 6 percent of all cancers in women, according to the National Cancer Institute.
Previous studies have found links between alcohol consumption and higher levels of estrogen in postmenopausal women.
"It's important for women, especially postmenopausal women, to know and understand the consequences of high alcohol consumption," Setiawan said in a report released by USC. "It does not affect just the liver, but alcohol has been associated with breast cancer and now endometrial cancer."
Researchers took data from the Multiethnic Cohort Study, an epidemiological study of more than 215,000 people from Los Angeles and Hawaii created in 1993 by Dr. BrTan Henderson, dean of the Keck School of Medicine of USC, and Dr. Laurence Kolonel of the University of Hawaii.
The study followed 41,574 postmenopausal black, Japanese-American, Latina, Native-Hawaiian and white women in Los Angeles and Hawaii for approximately eight years. Data on alcohol intake and endometrial cancer risk factors were obtained from a baseline questionnaire.
Researchers stressed that the findings were important, but need to be investigated further before any recommendations about alcohol consumption can be made. The study also found that the association of alcohol intake and endometrial cancer is stronger among lean women than among overweight or obese postmenopausal women.
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
