“We know that alcohol consumption does increase the risk of developing seven types of cancers,” she said. “Those cancers are mouth cancers, throat cancers, cancers of the voice box, the esophagus, the breast, liver, colon and rectal.”
Dotson says Mississippi has high rates of hypertension, diabetes and cardiac disease.
“All of those, in combination with alcohol, certainly increases an individual's risk of developing a cancer,” she said.
But how does alcohol cause cancer?
“it's not the alcohol itself,” Dr. Dotson said. “It’s what it’s broken down to once your body gets a hold of it. When your body starts processing it, it breaks it down into this thing called acetaldehyde. Then it becomes a poison to your body and it affects your DNA.”
Dr. Dotson says that can cause damage at the cellular level, leading to cancer. She says alcohol can also damage cells through inflammation and can alter the way estrogen is processed in the body. Twenty-three of the Mississippians who died from alcohol-related cancers between 2020 and 2021 were women who passed from breast cancer.
Dr. Dotson says she hopes screening rates improve for another type of cancer.
“One of the cancers that is closely related to alcohol consumption is colorectal cancer,” she said. “Colorectal cancer in Mississippi is very, very high. Mississippi ranks first in colorectal cancer mortality in the United States. In 2019, there were more than 1,700 new colorectal cancers in Mississippi. And then in that same year, 640 people died from colorectoral cancer.”
So could organic beer or wine be any better?
“It's not the type of alcohol so much,” Dr. Dotson said. “It's the ethanol within the alcohol that you drink. The ethanol is the product that is mixing with the other things and is increasing the risk of cancer. So a rose by any other name is the same.”
Still, Dr. Dotson says moderation is key.
“I'm not gonna go full prohibition, but I would say drink responsibly,” she said. “It's important to know what you're putting in your body and what alcohol is capable of.”
In January, the U.S. surgeon general suggested putting cancer warnings on alcohol products.
