Drinking alcohol may raise the risk of prostate cancer

Sunday, November 27, 2016 by: J. D. Heyes
Tags: prostate cancer, alcohol, ginger root

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(NaturalNews) A new meta-analysis of 27 studies suggests that drinking alcohol may raise the risk of prostate cancer, and the more men drink, the higher their risk.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that scientists in Canada and Australia found a weighty link between alcohol and prostate cancer, but the data did not prove conclusively that drinking caused the incidence of prostate cancer to increase.

The researchers noted that even low levels of drinking – just two drinks per day – were allied with an 8 to 23 percent greater risk of developing prostate cancer compared to not drinking at all.

"This new study contributes to the strengthening evidence that alcohol consumption is a risk factor for prostate cancer. Alcohol's contribution to prostate cancer will need to be factored into future estimates of the global burden of disease," study co-author Tim Stockwell, who is the director of the university's Centre for Addictions Research of BC in Canada, said in a University of Victoria news release.

Beer, wine not included in the elevated risk, only hard liquors

Tanya Chikritzhs, the study's co-author, heads up the Alcohol Policy Research Team at Australia's National Drug Research Institute. She said the meta-analysis findings demonstrate the need for better research methods on alcohol's overall effects on health. She also said that past and future studies which indicate that some low-level drinking may provide a measure of protection from disease "should be treated with caution."

The study was published online Nov. 15 in the journal BMC Cancer.

This study backs up research done by the Harvard School of Public Health back in 2001. In that study, researchers concluded that the consumption of various alcoholic drinks – with the exception of beer and wine – were associated with higher risks of prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer death in men around the world. The National Cancer Institute notes that scientists believe alcohol may raise the risk of developing cancer in four key ways:

-- Through the metabolizing (breaking down) of ethanol in alcoholic drinks to acetaldehyde, which is a toxic chemical and likely human carcinogen. Acetaldehyde can cause damage to DNA (the genetic material that makes up our genes) and proteins

-- By generating reactive oxygen species – chemically reactive molecules that contain oxygen – that can also damage DNA, proteins and lipids (fats), via a process known as oxidation

-- By impairing the body's ability to break down and absorb a number of different nutrients that may be associated with cancer risk, including vitamin A, nutrients in the B complex like folate, vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin E and carotenoids

-- Through increasing blood levels of estrogen, a sex hormone that is linked to a greater risk of breast cancer.

However, as we have reported, there is data indicating that some natural treatments are effective against prostate cancer, and this includes ginger root.

Ginger extract therapy isn't profitable enough for Big Pharma

The British Journal of Nutrition published the results of an American study in 2012 in which ginger extract (zingiber officinale) actually killed human prostate cancer cells, while healthy prostate cells were not affected at all. Researchers found that the results occurred at a daily dose of 100 mg of ginger extract per kilogram of body weight.

In eight weeks, the extract managed to reduce the prostate cancerous tumor by half. And researchers further noted that 100 grams of fresh ginger daily will offer the same results.

As an anti-cancer agent, ginger produces an anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and anti-prolifeative effect on tumors, which makes this remedy a very promising preventative agent. Researchers have found that whole ginger extract contains major growth-inhibiting and death-inducing properties for a wide spectrum of cancer cells, through the interruption of cell-cycle progression that impairs the cancer reproduction process. What's more, ginger has no cell toxicity in normal, healthy cells.

But don't expect to see the medical establishment or Big Pharma adopting ginger extract therapy anytime soon. It's not profitable.

Sources:

Philly.com

NCBI.NLM.NIH.gov

NaturalNews.com