Overview
- Among current drinkers, averaging 14 or more drinks per week over a lifetime was linked to a 25% higher colorectal cancer risk versus less than one drink per week (hazard ratio 1.25).
- Rectal cancer showed the strongest signal, with heavy lifetime drinkers facing nearly double the risk compared with the lowest intake group (hazard ratio 1.95).
- People who drank heavily across adulthood had a 91% higher colorectal cancer risk than consistent light drinkers (hazard ratio 1.91).
- Former drinkers had lower odds of nonadvanced adenomas than current very light drinkers (odds ratio 0.58), suggesting a potential benefit of stopping alcohol use.
- The study analyzed 88,092 participants with 1,679 colorectal cancer diagnoses over about 20 years and a separate adenoma cohort of 12,327, with findings limited by self-reported lifetime intake and an observational design.