I understand why the question about smoking re: this cancer but is there a correlation with drinking when a non-smoker (ie heavy drinker)?
Thanks.

Sorry, should have added, we have a friend who is a fairly strong smoker/drinker have tried to talk about this (obviously) but also have a friend who is a non-smoker but fairly heavy drinker and wasn't sure how much this cancer would apply. Thanks.

Annie,

There has been quite a bit of discussion about drinking with this cancer, but I've not seen a posting from someone who is just a heavy drinking non smoker on this board yet, but I've not been around here all that long. Hopefully one of the old hats like Brian or Gary will come along and answer this for you.

Tim

Hi i have been told by a English professor that with what little research that has been done on the subject , the results are as follows you are 30% more likely to have the cancer return if you carry on smoking , 25% more likely if you carry on drinking , she said these results are vague as there are very few people who smoke and do not drink , and she also said when asked that it does not mean you are 50% more likely for it to return if you carry on drinking and smoking , at the end of the day its stop smoking ( which i loved) and drink in moderation i was told no more than 20 units a week , which here in England is 10 pints ,which before i was ill was to me a good night out , not any more i might add , we all know what we should be doing and thats being sensible , cheers Allan

Alcohol is an INDEPENDENT risk factor for oral cancer. It is synergistic to tobacco and additive to HPV. Volume and duration of exposure is the key here. You have to be putting down 15 drinks a week or more for a protracted period of time to be at high risk. This number was ARBITRARILY arrived at by a panel of risk factors at the NIH since there was no existing study at the time to draw from. But alcohol alone will do the trick; add tobacco and the two play off of each other to really accelerate the process.

In addition to volume and duration I think that the alcohol concentration must play a major role here. I expect the effect to be different if you drink Whisky vs wine, if you think of this in terms of dehydration and cosolvent/cell penetration. (but I do not know of any study where hard liquor was compared to wine or beer ---> Brian any data on this?)

Markus

Not hard data comparing soft vs. hard alcohol types, most studies that I have seen state units as one ounce of hard liquor. Even this is ambiguous definition in my estimation.

Annie,
I'm looking for some info for you. In the mean time I recently posted in the general board a brief summary relating to Alcohol.

E-mail me if you have any specific questions.

Cheers
Mike