Talking about nutrients in alcoholic beverages as a benefit of drinking is stretching it. This superactive ADH enzyme speeds the conversion of alcohol (ethanol) to toxic acetaldehyde. White AJ, DeRoo LA, Weinberg CR, Sandler DP. What Does Chemotherapy Involve? However, they may not reflect the typical serving sizes people may encounter in daily life.What is the evidence that alcohol drinking can cause cancer?There is a strong scientific consensus that alcohol drinking can cause several types of cancer (The evidence indicates that the more alcohol a person drinks—particularly the more alcohol a person drinks regularly over time—the higher his or her risk of developing an alcohol-associated cancer. Grewal P, Viswanathen VA. Liver cancer and alcohol. Compared to women who don't drink at all, women who have three alcoholic drinks per week have a 15% higher risk of breast cancer. Alcohol intake and renal cell cancer in a pooled analysis of 12 prospective studies. Bagnardi V, Rota M, Botteri E, et al. Since some chemotherapy drugs (as well as radiation therapy) can raise the risk of a Kanda J, Matsuo K, Suzuki T, et al. Alcohol consumption and site-specific cancer risk: a comprehensive dose-response meta-analysis. Alcohol drinking and colorectal cancer risk: an overall and dose-response meta-analysis of published studies. Occasionally, chemo may be given directly into the spinal fluid which surrounds the brain and spinal cord. Fedirko V, Tramacere I, Bagnardi V, et al. Tobacco, alcohol use and risk of hepatocellular carcinoma and intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma: The Liver Cancer Pooling Project. Alcohol is a known depressant, and we know that depression is more common in people with cancer. Turati F, Garavello W, Tramacere I, et al. Rehm J, Patra J, Popova S. Alcohol drinking cessation and its effect on esophageal and head and neck cancers: a pooled analysis. Whether from the common Treatment for this non-invasive breast tumor is often different from the treatment of invasive breast cancer. In people who produce the defective enzyme, acetaldehyde builds up when they drink alcohol. Alcohol drinking and non-Hodgkin lymphoma risk: a systematic review and a meta-analysis. I hope this is useful to you. A 2017 study looking at the effect of alcohol intake after diagnosis in people with head and neck cancers found that alcohol did have an effect (negative) on survival in people who had surgery for tongue cancer, but not those who had surgery for other oral cancers. Risk of second primary cancer associated with pre-diagnostic smoking, alcohol, and obesity in women with keratinocyte carcinoma. There are several potential risks and benefits to consider if you are wondering if you can drink alcoholic beverages during chemotherapy. Stornetta A, Guidolin V, Balbo S. Alcohol-derived acetaldehyde exposure in the oral cavity. LoConte NK, Brewster AM, Kaur JS, Merrill JK, Alberg AJ. Our Breast cancer: Epidemiologic studies have consistently found an increased risk of breast cancer with increasing alcohol intake. Vartolomei MD, Kimura S, Ferro M, et al. However, some individuals with the defective form of ALDH2 can become tolerant to the unpleasant effects of acetaldehyde and consume large amounts of alcohol. : A systematic review. By using Verywell Health, you accept our Druesne-Pecollo N, Keita Y, Touvier M, et al. Park SM, Li T, Wu S, et al. Impact of alcohol consumption with polymorphisms in alcohol-metabolizing enzymes on pancreatic cancer risk in Japanese. Wu C, Wang Z, Song X, et al. Several Welcome to Cancer Chat, Jane Both chemo and radiation can have side effects.