Heavy Drinking Linked to Pancreatic Cancer March 14, 2011 -- Having three or more drinks of liquor a day is associated with an increased risk of dying from pancreatic cancer, a new study shows.

That’s significant, experts say, because only two other lifestyle factors that are modifiable -- smoking and obesity -- have been shown to be associated with the risk for pancreatic cancer, which is one of the leading causes of cancer death.

“Those are really the only two modifiable risk factors we have for this very fatal cancer,” says study researcher Susan M. Gapstur, PhD, MPH, vice president of the epidemiology research program at the American Cancer Society.

“So finding a link between heavy alcohol intake and pancreatic cancer death is important because it potentially adds to the list of modifiable risk factors,” she says.

Other experts said the study was well done, but limited by design.

“It’s provocative,” says David Kooby, MD, a surgical oncologist specializing in pancreatic cancer at Emory University in Atlanta.

“I don’t think it is earth shattering because in the back of our minds we know alcohol upsets the pancreas,” says Kooby, who reviewed the study for WebMD but was not involved in the research.

“This is an observational study, so they can’t prove that alcohol causes pancreatic cancer, only that the two things are associated,” Kooby says. “But for some questions, it’s the best you can do.”

According to the National Cancer Institute, pancreatic cancer is the fourth deadliest cancer in men and the third deadliest in women.

Slideshow: Pancreatic Cancer Overview