Alcohol Can Cause Irreversible Genetic Damage To Stem Cells, Says Study (theguardian.com)

A new study, published on Wednesday, states that drinking alcohol produces a harmful chemical in the body which can lead to permanent genetic damage in the DNA of stem cells, increasing the risk of cancer developing. From a report: The research, using genetically modified mice, provides the most compelling evidence to date that alcohol causes cancer by scrambling the DNA in cells, eventually leading to deadly mutations. During the past decade, there has been mounting evidence of the link between drinking and the risk of certain cancers. "How exactly alcohol causes damage to us is controversial," said Prof Ketan Patel, who led the work at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge. "This paper provides very strong evidence that an alcohol metabolite causes DNA damage [including] to the all-important stem cells that go on to make tissues." The study builds on previous work that had pinpointed a breakdown product of alcohol, called acetaldehyde, as a toxin that can damage the DNA within cells. However, these earlier studies had relied on extremely high concentrations of acetaldehyde and used cells in a dish rather than tracking its effects within the body.

Comments

Anyone?

[Anonymous Coward]

Hi,

I'm in my mid thirties, rather accomplished, with a very good job (tech) that I like, family with 2 kids etc. I drink way too much however and I fear I'm already borderline alcoholic. I've recently found this 'high functioning alcoholism' term and realized this is me. Which scares me a lot. I do know people that drink a lot in my family (I'm from eastern Europe...) and until recently I've never considered myself similar to them. For the record, I'm drinking on average 5 evenings per week, between half and a full bottle of wine (which is not that much, certainly I got used to it, so it doesn't put me in the drunk mode neither).

I keep an 'inner scorecard' which means I evaluate myself against what I used to be, and what I think I can accomplish (did I perform / accomplish something up to my potential, or did I just did a half-ass effort). Funnily enough, I always somehow discarded alcohol as a factor, justifying it (to myself) that it's not that influencing. Which is of course false. I should add that I work in the evenings very often (I love what I do btw) and most of those time, I drink too when working.

What made me realize this problem much more efficiently was running. I started quite recently and did some tests - how I perform, with the same training scheme, with and without alcohol for a period of time. Numbers don't lie. I run much better and also feel better.

As to why I'm drinking when I'm working alone, I don't really know (other than I like the taste). Not necessarily to forget problems or something. With perspective, this amounts to huge chunks of time, which certainly impacts my work on side projects / business. Sometimes I think I drink because I'm scared to actually succeed with this side stuff, and somehow unconsciously I sabotage myself.

Are / were you in this situation ? If you managed to stop, I would appreciate the 'how'.

Re:Anyone?

[Anonymous Coward]

My wife and I drink a lot. Almost every night. I wouldn't say we're alcoholics, but I agree, we drink too much. The problem is that craft beers (for me) and wine (for her) taste too damn good. I grab a beer because I like the taste, and likely grab another. I'm not getting drunk, and I'm fine in the morning. I'm also in my 30s, and thinking that perhaps I should be tapering off. I haven't not had a drink in a long time, so I don't know how I would perform or feel if I went a few weeks/months without it. I don't feel that I'm functioning at a reduced state, but maybe I am. I also have been seeing a lot of reports about the dangers of alcohol, and at some level, I feel they're aimed at me. Like the universe/fate is trying to tell me something.

I'd be interested to see other's thoughts and opinions.

Re:Anyone?

[zifn4b]

Seriously, if you have this type of addiction problem, it's largely psychological. Go see a psychologist. You're most likely self-medicating. Once you figure out the problem you're medicating, you can do something about that problem then you won't feel compelled to self-medicate anymore. If you think you're not self-medicating or doing something psychological it means that you are not consciously aware of what it is. There IS a reason and it's in your head whether you know it or not. That is the source of all compulsive behavior. If you lack the ability to peer into your own mind introspectively to understand your own thought process that is giving rise to this behavior, your only hope is to consult someone else who might be able to deconstruct it.

Re:Anyone?

[avandesande]

I don't really get a hangover but after I've had a few drinks I will wake up 4 am in the morning and can't get back to sleep. I've pretty much quit drinking because the next day is ruined because of lack of sleep.

Re:Anyone?

[Anonymous Coward]

Overcoming an alcohol addiction is hard.

Doing something hard requires compelling motivation.

If you want to break the addiction, it isn't enough to be willing to try this or that. You have to be committed to the benefits you will gain. You have to know what kind of person you want to be, why you want to be that person, how you will benefit from being that person, and how superior those benefits are to the benefits you now get from drinking.

Your desire to be free must be authentic. It must be real to you, not just lip-service to some conventional wisdom about health. You have to want it. For real. A lot.

Once that is true, then it's just a matter of applying the power of your brain to the task of achieving it, including tapping support resources such as recovery programs, etc. Be prepared for withdrawal and relapse, too.

Re:Anyone?

[cyberchondriac]

"Vitamin ethanol".. lol I have to steal that.

I have a beer every night with dinner, then maybe or maybe not little bit (like a shot's worth) o' sippin' whiskey as a nightcap. Certainly nothing that affects me in the morning, I don't even like feeling drunk, I just get sleepy and stupid. Slightly relaxed is what I aim for.
Taste is another matter: I love a good beer, irish whisky, single malt scotch, and gin & tonic. Yum. I wish they could taste exactly the way they do and be half the alcohol. And a quarter of the calories. The calories are probably doing me more harm than anything else because I'm not burning them off.

Re:Anyone?

[HornWumpus]

The tests can't tell Marinol from pot.

Get a marinol script, works for truckers and pilots.

Re:Anyone?

[cayenne8]

I know a few people who swear by CBDs and a few more who would like to go that route instead of the alternatives. The problem is security clearances -- the "Evil Dope Fiend" federal tests aren't particularly accurate at targeting THC vs CBD.

Yep, and if you get caught using/posession of weed, you can lose your gun ownership privileges..

Hell, I"ve heard talk of the Feds revoking your rights to guns if you have a medical or even recreational weed permit.

The Federal laws need to be changed...period.

I"m still wondering why it took a freakin' Constitutional Amendment to prohibit alcohol and another one to legalize it again....yet, pot and other drugs have been made illegal by the stroke of a pen? What's the constitutional basis for the "scheduling"?

I've yet to have that explained to me...wish that question would pop up at EVERY congress critters open forums and election debate questions.

Re:Anyone?

[hey!]

Simple answer: you need the opinion of an objective, qualified third party who has spent some time with you face to face evaluating your specific situation. What you don't need is opinions from Internet randos. Nor is it a good idea to rely on some kind of guided self-assessment. If you don't have a substance abuse problem your self-assessment would be reliable, but if you *do* then it's one of the first things to go.

Generally if something causes you distress (including worry and undue concern), and that distress does not go away on its own after a short time, that represents *some* kind of mental health problem. What you have may be a substance abuse problem, a personality disorder (like obsessive-compulsive personality disorder), or quite possibly nothing at all but a normal, passing concern. I can't tell you which it is, nor can anyone else here.

Sensationalism headline strike again!

[Eloking]

There's a pretty huge gap between
"Alcohol Can Cause Irreversible Genetic Damage To Stem Cells, Says Study"
and
"However, these earlier studies had relied on extremely high concentrations of acetaldehyde and used cells in a dish rather than tracking its effects within the body."

Thanks but we already knew that alcoholic have an higher risk of cancer : https://www.elementsbehavioral...

But I guess I should be thankful that, for once, the real signifiant fact is inside the summary...

Re:Sensationalism headline strike again!

[jedidiah]

Someone managed to display a statistical correlation between alcohol consumption and a limited number of particular cancers.

That's the rub with most of these "carcinogen" declarations.

They are typically only relevant to particular cancers. Those particular cancers may be more or less common or easier or harder to treat.

Alcohol fits into the "less common and easy to treat" section.

Although your own personal genetics are much more relevant. Torturing yourself for the rest of your life won't help anything.

Re:Sensationalism headline strike again!

[HornWumpus]

Just wrong.

Alcoholic drinks were a way of dealing with bad water. The use of alcohol increased lifespans.

That is was (in the case of beer, not wine) the boiling step in the preparation of the drink that provided the benefit is irrelevant. They didn't know that and never ran the experiment.

Six (pack) of one, half a dozen of the other

[Daetrin]

So moderate alcohol use (supposedly) helps prevent heart disease but also (supposedly) increases your odds of cancer.

On one hand, repairing or replacing hearts, possibly from cloned stem cells, is theoretically easier than curing cancer and repairing damaged stem cells.

On the other hand, a heart attack is a lot more likely to catch you by surprise before you realize you need to have your heart repaired or replaced. Also, your stem cells are going to get damaged sooner or later anyways, alcohol just speeds up the process. So sooner or later we'll have to figure out how to repair or replace stem cells anyways.

Of course that's all taking the long view. In the short(er) view, none of us are getting out of this alive. So drink up i guess?

Re:Six (pack) of one, half a dozen of the other

[Megol]

There's a reason one should listen to scientists doing proper blind (preferably double-blind) studies over personal experience - at least mostly:
The placebo effect is very strong.

So why the "mostly" part? Because people and how they work physically and mentally can have large differences making a general study non-applicable.

Not in this case though.

Re:Six (pack) of one, half a dozen of the other

[Oswald McWeany]

I think it's complicated. They say not to drink when you have a cold/flu because it doesn't really kills germs but in actual real-life use I've found it incredibly effective at taking out these type of infections. So much so that I will sometimes take a few shots of vodka when my infected kids/grandkids/etc come to visit. I have tested not doing this versus drinking and I can say with 100% confidence that drinking makes me less vulnerable to whatever infection that is near me and often heals me faster when I'm infected.

I know, nobody outside of Russia supports this but I can say for myself it is actually true.

In my large case study of one person, me, I have found that drinking sherry helps me get over a sore throat quicker. I love the taste of sherry, but don't buy it often because of the alcohol. I had sherry one time when I had a sore throat and felt better the next day, so now every time I get a sore throat I drink sherry. Seems to help, but my evidence is no better than Chinese folk medicine, or other untested techniques.

Re:YOU ARE GOING TO DIE.

[hey!]

While what you say is true after a fashion consider: modern medicine has developed a near-miraculous capacity for keeping you going for years, even decades after you get sick. What it hasn't accomplished is make going those bonus years of ill-health fun.