Occasional alcohol consumption increases the risk of liver cancer

Almost 6 out of 10 cases of liver cancer (55%) are associated with alcohol use, including habitual drinking drink intermittently or occasionallyTherefore, hepatologists are clear about alcoholic beverages: they are in no way beneficial to health, and excesses on weekends are just as harmful as daily drinking.

More than a thousand experts meet this week in Madrid at the 49th Congress of the Spanish Society for the Study of the Liver (AEEH) to present research into the evolution of the etiology of liver cancer in recent years. places alcohol as the main cause of liver disease.

Liver cancer can reach 29.9% of healthy people drink and the prevalence increases to 54.9% if alcohol consumption is accompanied by pre-existing pathologies, including fatty liver, a disease that affects a third of the Spanish population and is caused by, among other things, obesity or diabetes.

Thus, the message of hepatologists against alcohol is loud, as is the medical consensus against tobacco.

But how much weekly alcohol consumption can be considered unhealthy? There is no consensus on this matter, say experts, who recommend drinking as little as possible and remembering that alcohol, even periodically or occasionally, is always increases the risk of developing certain types of cancerand not just the liver.

In an interview with EFE, AEEH President Manuel Romero stated that “alcohol is an agent that causes liver cancer if consumed occasionally or in large quantities.” this is not great“and debunks the myth of drinking two glasses of wine a day as a healthy habit that the Mediterranean diet has always promoted.

More than 9% of the population drinks daily

According to the findings that experts will discuss this week in Madrid (III Registry of Hepatocellular Carcinoma with data from 767 patients from 52 hospitals), Romero recalls that a third of the Spanish population, that is 30% suffer from fatty liver (alcohol-related or not), pathology caused by obesity, sedentary lifestyle or abuse of ultra-processed foods.

It is emphasized that more than 9% of the population, i.e. 1 in 10 people According to the latest research into habits, he admits that drink alcohol dailya figure he believes could be higher.

Data from the latest hepatology registry indicate that they increased by ten points since 2008 cases of fatty liver cancer (increasing from 1.9 to 11.8%) in a context where the number of people suffering from this fat accumulation has “alarmingly” increased, a pathology that usually shows up unexpectedly in routine tests.

Liver cancer is the one that takes the most years of life

Hepatologists deny failure of public policy struggle with alcohol consumption in society and regret not being able to change its weight and social acceptance, although it is a major cause of hepatocellular carcinoma.

This means that in the figures broken down at the beginning, almost 6 out of 10 liver cancer cases in Spain are caused by alcoholalso presenting two paradoxical circumstances for hepatologists: liver cancer is the cancer that takes the most years of life from the population, but the perception of its risks in our country remains unchanged.

They remember that young people are starting their consumption at increasingly younger ages and with high-risk patterns (drinking large amounts of alcohol over several hours).

Debunking myths

The president of hepatologists wants to dispel the myths common among young people that the liver is an organ that easily regenerates: “It’s an urban legend”Romero ditch.

He explains that the liver after surgery can swell again after six weeks, but cirrhosis and other conditions caused by alcohol lead to loss of functioning cells and in which the organ becomes fibrotic over time and therefore loses all regenerative capacity.

“The liver has Point of no return“This expert warns but clarifies that cirrhosis and other conditions such as fatty liver can be cured to a certain extent because it is a ‘grateful organ.’

Hepatologists, without hesitation, recommend Mediterranean diet (but without alcohol) as a habit against metabolic diseases, along with regular exercise or, failing that, walking more than 40 thousand steps. The latter, as Romero notes, has a positive effect on the liver.