NEW DELHI: Alcoholic drinks, especially beer and spirits, may raise the risk of pancreatic cancer, a new UN study has found.The study by the World Health Organisation (WHO) International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) revealed a “modest but significant” association between alcohol consumption and the risk of developing pancreatic cancer, regardless of sex or smoking status.The study, published in PLOS Medicine, said that each additional 10 grams of alcohol consumed per day was associated with a three per cent increase in pancreatic cancer risk.While for women consuming 15 to 30 grams of alcohol daily – about one to two drinks – the risk rose by 12 per cent compared to light drinkers, among men, those who drank 30 to 60 grams daily faced a 15 per cent increased risk.Men who drank more than 60 grams daily saw a 36 per cent higher risk, the study said.Pancreatic cancer is the twelfth most common cancer globally, but it accounts for five per cent of cancer-related deaths due to its high fatality rate.“Alcohol consumption is a known carcinogen, but until now, the evidence linking it specifically to pancreatic cancer has been considered inconclusive,” said Pietro Ferrari, senior author of the study at the International Cancer Research Agency and Head of Nutrition and Metabolism Branch at the WHO IARC.“Our findings provide new evidence that pancreatic cancer may be another cancer type associated with alcohol consumption, a connection that has been underestimated until now.”The research pooled data from nearly 2.5 million people across Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America.
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