Clipping of news on Brazilian Culture, Law and Citizenship
23/08/2012
This article was translated by an automatic translation system, and was therefore not reviewed by people.
Metabolism in the body generates drink substance capable of causing tumors.
Protection against natural effect is absent in some Asian and American
Scientists at the University of Minnesota, USA, reported on Wednesday (22) the first evidence in humans that alcohol consumption increases the risk of some cancers, such as esophagus.
The discovery comes nearly 30 years after the first studies that raised the possibility of a link between alcohol and tumors.
The results were presented at the 244th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society.
According to the author Silvia Balbo, who led the work, the human body metabolizes - ie break - the molecules of alcohol content in beers, wines and spirits. One of the substances formed from this metabolism is called "acetaldehyde" which has a structure similar to a known carcinogenic compound, the "formaldehyde" - bound to tumors in the lungs, nose, brain and blood (leukemia).
Through laboratory experiments with volunteers, the researchers found that acetaldehyde can also damage your DNA, which can lead to cancer.
To test this hypothesis, ten volunteers had to drink increasing doses of vodka (up to three) once a week for three weeks. The researchers found that, hours after ingestion of alcohol, changes in DNA levels increased by 100 times in the mouth of the individual cells, and decreased after 24 hours. The same effect was observed in blood cells.
According to Silvia, most people have a natural protection mechanism highly effective against the effect of alcohol on DNA - an enzyme called "dehydrogenase" converts the acetaldehyde into acetate, a relatively harmless substance. However, some are more likely to have problems.
Among this group are 1.6 billion people of Asian origin who do not have this enzyme. In addition to Eastern, some Americans (including Alaska Natives) have an impairment in production dehydrogenase.
Scientists say, however, that most individuals will not develop cancer from drinking socially, but it is important to remember that alcohol brings other health problems - liver, brain and other organs - and increases the risk of traffic accidents.
Source: News G1
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This article was translated by an automatic translation system, and was therefore not reviewed by people.