The researcher at the University of Heidelberg (southwest), Helmut Seitz, has identified alcohol abuse as the cause of 4 percent of the tumors, especially those that are detected in the esophagus, colon and liver, reported from the institution.

“We have shown that under the chronic influence of alcohol, the body is no longer in a position to return to free radicals harmless,” says Seitz, medical director of Salem Hospital.

The researcher noted that in the case of the liver, alcohol damages the genetic material and its protection mechanisms to the extent that substantially increases the risk of cancer in this organ.

The University of Heidelberg advanced the first details of the investigation, which has not yet been finalized, the product of nearly 30 years of study of Seitz, in which genetic predisposition has been linked to cancer and alcohol consumption.

The work, which warns that alcohol consumer cell aging faster than the natural, collects in Germany there are four million alcoholics and 40,000 people die each year in that country for reasons arising from its excessive consumption.

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