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True, said Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society. The number of men in the study was too small to establish a relationship between prostate cancer and overall alcohol consumption, he said, but the finding might be enough to put prostate cancer on the list of malignancies that are affected by alcohol intake.

"Certain cancers are commonly associated with alcohol -- head and neck cancer, esophageal cancer, breast cancer," Lichtenfeld said. "Similar consistent information in regard to prostate cancer and alcohol really doesn't exist. But this was a well-defined and carefully developed study, an excellent opportunity to help answer that question."

The study provides "what is probably the best information we have on the possible relationship," Lichtenfeld said. "And one of the take-away messages we have is that drinking a lot of alcohol is a risk factor for developing aggressive prostate cancer."

It's not possible, Lichtenfeld said, to say anything about heavy drinking of wine and hard liquor because of the small number of such drinkers in the study. But people who drink equivalent amounts of alcohol in wine or hard liquor should not take comfort from that lack of statistical significance, he said.

"To reduce the risk of prostate cancer, it is best for you to reduce your intake of large amounts of alcohol," he said.

More information

The American Cancer Society has more on the established risk factors for prostate cancer.

SOURCES: Alan R. Kristal, D.P.H., associate head, cancer prevention program, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, and professor, epidemiology, University of Washington, Seattle; Len Lichtenfeld, M.D., deputy chief medical o
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