Heavy Drinkers' Genes May Cut Cancer Risk

Could your genes actually help lower the risk of getting cancer when drinking alcohol? A new study says that this may be possible.

Researchers say they have found a gene variant that may protect against alcohol-related cancers.

(PhotoDisc)

Researchers from Lyon, France, found that some people with certain variations in a gene involved in breaking down alcohol in the body appear to have a lower risk for developing certain alcohol-related cancers.

Paul Brennan, head of the genetic epidemiology group at the International Agency for Research on Cancer, and his colleagues studied more than 3,800 people in Europe and Latin America who had cancers of the respiratory tract and upper digestive tract. What they found is that those who had a particular variation in the genes known as ADH1B and ADH7 metabolized alcohol much faster than those without the variation -- about 100 times faster, to be exact.

The results were released Sunday in the journal Nature Genetics.

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