Heavy drinking may increase prostate cancer risk

Sure, we know that heavy drinking carries a plethora of social and physical problems. Now it turns out that daily, excessive drinking also increases the risk of high-grade prostate cancer. And this kind of drinking renders preventive drug therapy with finasteride for prostate cancer ineffective.

The study, released in July by the Hutchinson Center’s Dr. Alan Kristal and colleagues, examined the associations of total alcohol, type of alcoholic beverage, and drinking pattern with risks of total, low- and high-grade prostate cancer, using data from more than 10,000 men participating in the Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial.

They found that participants who reported heavy alcohol consumption (more than 50 grams of alcohol per day) and regular heavy drinking (more than four drinks per day for at least five days per week) were twice as likely or more to be diagnosed with high-grade prostate cancer. Moderate drinking was not associated with risk, the study found.

The researchers also compared drinking patterns with treatment outcome among those diagnosed with prostate cancer enrolled on a placebo-controlled trial of the drug finasteride.

"Basically, moderate drinking has no effect on prostate cancer risk, but regular heavy drinking may," Kristal said. "Men who are using finasteride for prostate cancer prevention should reduce the amount they drink to fewer than four drinks per day."