| Study Reveals Alcohol Consumption in Non-smoking Postmenopausal Women Reduces Oral Cancer Risk |
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| Wednesday, 11 May 2024 11:29 |
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As reported in advance of publication in Oral Oncology, 2011, D Tákacs and colleagues from the Semmelweis University Budapest Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Budapest, Hungary, have shown that moderate alcohol consumption in postmenopausal women that do not smoke may reduce the risk of oral cancer. The authors of this study assessed six-hundred and eight non-smoker patients (466 males and 142 females) with squamous cell oral carcinomas and 406 non-smoker tumor free controls (264 males and 142 females). The patients in each group were divided into three additional groups: abstinent cases, moderate alcohol consumers, and excessive alcohol consumers. Because increased insulin sensitivity is associated with alcohol use, blood glucose levels in both male and female cases and the menopausal state of women were confounders of interest. Alcohol consumption is known to be a strong risk factor for oral cancer and this was verified by the research. But in this study moderate alcohol consumption was only found to increase the risk of oral cancer in men (odds ratio (OR) 1:4) but not in women (OR 0.7). Postmenopausal women with elevated blood glucose had a greater risk for oral cancer (OR: 1:6) but elevated blood glucose levels did not affect the oral cancer risk in men. D Takacs admits that the results of this study are controversial and not in accordance with findings from other research groups and published studies; particularly in relation to the hypothesis that women are more susceptible to alcohol induced oral cancer than men. Given their results, they conclude that increased insulin sensitivity and higher estrogen levels may be an advantageous systemic effect of moderate alcohol intake and might reduce the risk for oral cancer in postmenopausal women. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21550294 Submitted by Dr Jeff Burgess, Editor in Chief |