Alcohol may lower risk of renal cancer

Alcohol consumption may lower the risk of developing kidney cancer. To investigate the association of different types of alcoholic beverages and of total alcohol consumption with the risk of kidney cancer, researchers from the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm studied 855 people suffering from kidney cancer and 1204 people without cancer. They reported their alcohol consumption in terms of standard portion sizes, a glass of beer being 200 millilitre (mL), a glass of wine being 100 mL, and a glass of strong wine or hard liquor equal to 40 mL. The alcohol content of the different beverages was rated as follows: medium-strong beer had 2.8-gram alcohol per 100 g, red wine had 9.9 g per 100 g and hard liquor 32 g alcohol per 100 g. The findings showed that the odds of developing kidney cell cancer was about 40-per cent lower among those who consumed 620 g ethanol per month compared to those who did not drink at all. Drinking more than two glasses of red wine per week was associated with a 40-per cent reduction in kidney cell cancer risk compared with drinking no red wine, and there were similar trends for more than two glasses per week of white wine or strong beer. In contrast, there was no relation between kidney cell cancer risk and consumption of light beer, medium-strong beer, strong wine, or hard liquor. A reduced risk associated with consumption of wine and beer might be due to the phenolics they contain, as these possess antioxidant and antimutagenic properties. The lower risk that was observed for three different alcoholic beverages and total ethanol intake suggests that alcohol itself rather than a particular type of drink is responsible for the reduction in risk. However, the adverse effects of alcohol on the liver have to be kept in mind before people start indulging themselves under the pretext of preventing kidney cancer.