3 Weird Things About Acetaldehyde
Posted on byBy Jane Henley
- Acetaldehyde can cause cancer, according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer.
- The more acetaldehyde you are exposed to, the higher your cancer risk.
- 1 in 2 adults and 1 in 3 youth in the United States were exposed to acetaldehyde in the past month because they drank alcohol.
What Is Acetaldehyde?
When you drink alcohol, your body breaks it down into a chemical called acetaldehyde. Acetaldehyde damages your DNA and prevents your body from repairing the damage. DNA is the cell’s “instruction manual” that controls a cell’s normal growth and function. When DNA is damaged, a cell can begin growing out of control and create a cancer tumor. A toxic buildup of acetaldehyde can increase your cancer risk.
The Link Between Alcohol and Cancer May Surprise You
At least six cancers are linked to alcohol use: mouth and throat, voice box, esophagus, liver, colon and rectum, and breast (in women).
All types of alcoholic drinks―even red and white wine, craft beers, and cocktails―are linked with cancer. The more you drink, the higher your cancer risk. But it’s not just excessive drinkers at risk. For example, with each 10 grams of pure alcohol (less than one drink a day), a woman’s risk for breast cancer goes up 5% before menopause, and 9% after menopause.
The less alcohol you drink, the lower your risk of cancer. If you choose to drink, drink no more than one drink a day (for women) or no more than two drinks a day (for men).
Secret Ways to Lower Your Cancer Risk
While there is no proven way to completely prevent cancer, limiting the amount of alcohol you drink is one of the most important things you can do to lower your risk of getting cancer. There are other things you can do, too:
- Don’t use tobacco. Stay away from secondhand smoke.
- Keep a healthy weight.
- Be physically active.
- Eat a balanced diet with lots of fruits and vegetables.
- Protect your skin from too much exposure to ultraviolet rays from the sun and tanning beds.
More Information
26 comments on “3 Weird Things About Acetaldehyde”
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This article states “For example, with each 10 grams of pure alcohol (less than one drink a day), a woman’s risk for breast cancer goes up 5% before menopause, and 9% after menopause.”
This would appear to indicate that EACH INDIVIDUAL DRINK increases the risk by 5% or 9%. Is this correct? Once a pre-menopause woman hits 20 drinks, lifetime consumption, she has doubled her risk for breast cancer? So, even a woman following the no-more-than-one-drink-a-day guideline could double her cancer risk in less than a month?
Thank you for your question. The blog post is referring to alcohol drinking patterns. Compared to a woman who doesn’t drink alcohol, a woman who drinks an average of 10 grams of pure alcohol (less than one drink) per day has a 5% higher risk of getting breast cancer before menopause, and a 9% higher risk of getting breast cancer after menopause. For more information, please visit http://www.cdc.gov/cancer/alcohol/.
The article ought to have said “per day” again to be clearer.
It does say per day in ()
How does acetaldehyde do this? I thought it was the free energy in the bloodstream causedby sugar and alcohol that feeds a nascent or growing tumor… not metabolites like acetaldehyde. Please explain if possible.
Acetaldehyde damages your DNA and prevents your body from repairing the damage. DNA is the cell’s “instruction manual” that controls a cell’s normal growth and function. When DNA is damaged, a cell can begin growing out of control and create a cancer tumor. A toxic buildup of acetaldehyde can increase your cancer risk. This blog post from Cancer Research UK may help explain the process: https://scienceblog.cancerresearchuk.org/2016/02/09/how-does-alcohol-cause-cancer/
If the DNA is damaged can it correct itself if alcohol is omitted
Thanks for your question. Yes, your body’s cells try to repair the DNA damage caused by alcohol. Acetaldehyde both damages DNA and interferes with your cells’ ability to repair the damage. Reducing alcohol may stop further damage and give your body a chance to repair itself.
If for example a person only drank bourbon that was at (50-60% alcohol / 100-120 proof) vs someone who drank beer at a much lower proof (say 10% Alcohol /20 proof), does that mean that person drinking bourbon is exposed to 5-6 times the amount of Acetaldehyde vs the Beer Drinker? I’m sure everybodys body is different but how does that work?
Also, are there any studies on how quickly a throat type cancer has or can occur in heavy drinkers, example 4yrs, 15yrs, etc.. This is tough to estimate just curious what the studies may show?
It depends on how much Bourbon and how much beer. One bottle/can beer is 12 oz; 1 shot of bourbon is 1.5 oz. Both have the same amount of alcohol. If you were to drink a 12 oz beer glass worth of bourbon, it’s actually EIGHT shots, so 8 beers worth, not 5-6 times.
People usually consume much, much more total alcohol when they drink bourbon and hard liquor as part of a routine as opposed to beer. Drinking 4 beers, 48 oz of liquid, that’s abnormal consuming of beverages in general. But 12 oz; is not, and if its 80 proof liquor that’s a high level of intoxication.
I am a recovered alcoholic with 16 years of sobriety. I worry about acetaldehyde in vaping and ‘safe’ nicotine products. Its in tobacco and added to other products because it increases the dopamine payoff, makes tobacco and vaping more addictive than nicotine alone.
With 16 years of sobriety you may have noticed that there aren’t any more alcoholics getting cancer than the general public. I have over 20 years and can say that while cirrhosis of the liver is prevalent in long term alcohol abuse, cancer is not. Use your own judgment and experience people. Protect your immune system. Cells multiply because of what gets inside them, not your DNA alone. I would not suggest using the CDC for medical advise. They have never actually practiced medicine and have been known to prevent effective treatments of disease. They also like to get good doctors’ licenses taken away if they disobey and save peoples’ lives. Based.
Thank you for this! Its unfortunate people are uneducated on doctrination and the systems being controlled in the hands of big pharma and most healthcare. I would recommend everyone to research into chinese medicine.
You seem to have forgotten that cirrhosis of the liver kills much faster than cancer.
The fact that a person died from cirrhosis of the liver does not exclude the possibility that they died _with_ cancer but not from it.
My step-father had intermittent back pain for over 20 years before a tumor was found in his bile ducts and He succumbed to cancer.
Just wanted to say thanks for posting this. I feel like this is something everyone should know before drinking, but it seems like most people are not aware of this. If they were, maybe they would consume less alcohol, if any at all, given the cancer risk and destruction to DNA.
Why does the article specify “craft beer” and not reference just “beer?” Is the author suggesting that beer designated as craft is singled out as categorically more dangerous than macro beer?
It says “even” craft beer after “all types” taken in context it is specified to show that specialty batches containing alcohol are metabolized the same way. No, your liver doesn’t make a distinction.
I think craft beer was mentioned because many consider craft beer as more naturally produced, and hence healthier.
Two or three times a year, I go to a wine tasting for social reasons. This might involve four or five small glasses of wine or champagne. Other than that, I do not drink. Is there a serious risk in this activity for cancer or cardiac arrhythmia. I am in my late sixties and in excellent health.
I would surmise that you have more risk of dying in the car ride to the wine tasting than dying from the cancer triggered by the minimal alcohol consumption two or three times a year!
Can alcohol cause lung cancer or other types of cancer? Since DNA is everywhere, it would make sense it can cause any type of cancer. So on the list of cancers that alcohol may cause, why not add “& other, but less common cancers?” Especially since lung cancer has a poor prognosis.
Alcohol can probably cause other types of cancer, but it is all about relative amount. Lung cancer might be one, but it is most likely not as significant than long-term tobacco use. Plus, different organs have different risks for cancer depending on how actively they are growing at the cellular level. The stomach, for example, has a relatively higher risk because it is always replacing the mucous layer to protect us from autodigestion by stomach acid. At the same time, I would not be surprised if there are more robust repair mechanisms in stomach tissue to offset this increased risk.
Does “orgaic” or chemical free or “natural” tobacco have acetaldehyde present in its composition. Or, are manufactured tobaccos, the tobacco products with acetaldehyde present in the manufacturing process…
Yes Susie your answer fits perfectly into today’s application of CDC and they’re not really armes with So called modern scientific unfortunately .
I understand, it’s a hit piece on alcohol.
I also understand that your head/neck cervical, anus, colon cancers are mostly HPV related.
What is it that you think people do when they go party? Justly go get cancer. Well yeah, but isn’t just alcohol. They go out to get laid, and they sleep around, and they pass HPV. Most people will get rid if HPv, but abnormal cells stay behind and become tumors.
So I must ask for a clarification o. Which of all those cancers gets blamed on HPV , and how many are solely alcohol caused?
I’m not interested in opinions, or agenda driven articles. Do your diligent research. Lay out your research and come to a conclusion. Anyone can find info to use as ammo. But can we get thorough and unbiased articles?
Nope because yall want money! So you sell opinions.
I looked up why the drink recommendations are different for men and women, and it says women produce less alcohol dehydrogenase. What causes this? If someone assigned female at birth were to take testosterone, would that change the amount of alcohol dehydrogenase they make or would it stay the same?
I’m puzzled. With the exception of breast and liver cancer, all the cancers listed are in the digestive tract. But ethanol is, as far as I can find, mainly processed to acetaldehyde in the liver (i.e. _after_ it has left the digestive tract). After which it either goes back into the general circulation until eliminated – mainly by the kidneys – or is further processed to acetic acid. So why on Earth are the resultant cancers concentrated in the digestive tract? I see there is some conversion from ethanol to acetaldehyde in the stomach, but even if significant, that would only affect the stomach and intestines. So it’s particularly puzzling for the locations between the mouth and oesophagus: it’s hard to see why they should have any special exposure to acetaldehyde. Why, especially in these cases, do you conclude that the excess carcinogenicity results from exposure to acetaldehyde, rather than simply to ethanol?
https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/causes-of-cancer/alcohol-and-cancer/how-does-alcohol-cause-cancer seems to give a much more nuanced picture.
By the way, your link (in the comments) of February 16 2021 seems to have rotted (or perhaps transformed to the above).