Beer, Bacteria and Genes Linked to Stomach Cancer
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Drinking beer on a regular basis for several years can increase the risk of stomach cancer when combined with other uncontrollable factors, ScienceNews.org reported.
A study from the Catalan Institute of Oncology in Barcelona found that the combination of consuming at least three beers per day, carrying a specific gene variant and having a bacterial infection in the stomach can drastically increase your chances of developing stomach cancer.
Researchers call it a “triple threat”—carrying two copies of the gene rs1230025, which are associated with degrading alcohol in the body; and the stomach microbe, which over half the world’s population carries, Helicobacter pylori.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Eric Duell, an epidemiologist at the Catalan Institute said that his team did not find the same effects with wine or hard liquor.
The scientists studied 364 people who had been diagnosed with stomach cancer and 1,272 participants without. Their beer intake, their gene variants and their stomach microbes were all analyzed.
The results of the study were reported at a meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research
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