In March 2018 a multi-national team of medical university researchers (from France, Denmark Germany, Greece, Italy, The Netherlands, UK, Malaysia, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Spain) published the results of their study to assess the association between alcohol and risk of pancreatic cancer. 476,106 individuals were included in the study and alcohol consumption was estimated using lifestyle and dietary questionnaires. During a follow-up period of 14 years, a total of 1,283 (57% women) cases of pancreatic cancer were diagnosed. Results showed that alcohol intake increased the risk of pancreatic cancer in men. The association was mainly driven by high alcohol levels with heavy drinkers (more than 60g per day) having a higher risk than those who consumed between 0.1-4.9g per day. The association between alcohol and pancreatic cancer risk in women was not significant. A further analysis revealed that those who consumed beer and spirits/liquors had a higher risk of developing pancreatic cancer than those who drank wine.
Naudin S et al. Lifetime and baseline alcohol intakes and risk of pancreatic cancer in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition study. Int J Cancer. 2018 Mar 9. [Epub ahead of print]