It’s that time of year again. We vow to save money, lose weight, and, invariably, drink less. Dry January is the latest – and persistently popular – iteration of this trend. According to Civic Science, a market research firm in Pittsburgh, a quarter of drinking-age Americans embrace the UK-led alcohol abstinence initiative in 2024.
This year, the U.S. Surgeon General weighed in with a new advisory about the link between alcohol and cancer.
“Alcohol is a well-established, preventable cause of cancer responsible for about 100,000 cases of cancer and 20,000 cancer deaths annually in the United States – greater than the 13,500 alcohol-associated traffic crash fatalities per year in the U.S. – yet the majority of Americans are unaware of this risk,” U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy said in a press release. “This Advisory lays out steps we can all take to increase awareness of alcohol’s cancer risk and minimize harm.”
In short, the nation’s top doctor laid out a series of recommendations to boost awareness and push back against alcohol-related cancer cases and deaths. It also includes a proposed update to the existing Surgeon General’s health warning label on alcoholic drinks.
An Alzheimer’s Link to Alcohol?
All of this comes on the heels of a new study from Scripps Research that suggests that Alzheimer’s and alcohol use disorder (AUD) are associated with similarly altered gene expression patterns in the brain. The authors contend that this backs up the argument that alcohol could promote the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.
“We found several cell-type-specific genes and pathways that are dysregulated in both Alzheimer’s disease and alcohol, which supports the hypothesis that alcohol use disorder can accelerate Alzheimer’s disease progression by impinging on some of the same molecular mechanisms that are affected by Alzheimer’s,” senior author and Scripps Research professor Pietro Paolo Sanna explained. “By understanding these dysregulations with this level of molecular detail, we can understand what’s causing these diseases, and we can also identify targets that could be used therapeutically.”
The research team applied a novel approach in their study – single-cell transcriptomics – to explore how individual brain cells act in those with Alzheimer’s disease and AUD. This technique examined active genes by analyzing their RNA.
The paper fleshes out earlier research from Sanna’s team, which found that heavy drinking accelerates the progression of Alzheimer’s in mice genetically predisposed to the disease.
Estrogen and Binge Drinking
More recently, just-published research from Weill Cornell Medicine shows that estrogen exerts a sizable influence on binge drinking behavior in women.
Appearing in Nature Communications, the preclinical research suggests that high estrogen levels drive higher alcohol consumption in women. The effect becomes more obvious within the first 30 minutes of availability, a behavior known as “front-loading.”
It’s worth noting that the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism defines binge drinking (in women) as the consumption of four or more drinks within two hours.
The findings reinforce estrogen’s role in explaining different alcohol use behaviors among sexes, according to senior author and associate professor of pharmacology Kristen Pleil.
Recent data shows that the rate of heavy drinking spiked more sharply among women than men during the pandemic, correlating with higher rates of alcohol-related hospitalizations.
Specifically, the research results showed that estrogen enhances the excitability of neurons in a brain region called the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST), directly modulating drinking behavior. Unlike its typical role in gene regulation, estrogen responded quickly by clinging to receptors on the surface of BNST neurons, intensifying neural activity and binge drinking.
The researchers isolated the specific estrogen receptor responsible for this effect. They’re digging deeper into its signaling processes. While the same neural circuitry also resides in men, their estrogen relies on local testosterone conversion, suggesting potential gender-specific treatment approaches.
Further Reading
Strategies for Cutting Down and Stopping Alcohol Use
