Acetaldehyde in alcohol -- no longer just the chemical that causes a hangover

March 19, 2009

New evidence points to an overlooked risk factor for cancer

New evidence by researchers at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and researchers in Germany shows that drinking alcohol is the greatest risk factor for acetaldehyde-related cancer. Heavy drinkers may be at increased risk due to exposure from multiple sources.

Acetaldehyde is ubiquitous in daily life in Ontario. Widely present in the environment, it is inhaled from the air and tobacco smoke, ingested from alcohol and foods, and produced in the human body during the metabolism of alcoholic beverages. Research indicates that this organic chemical plays a significant role in the development of certain types of cancers (especially of the upper digestive tract), and it is currently classified as possibly carcinogenic by the International Agency for Research on Cancer of the World Health Organization. New research from CAMH in Toronto and the Chemical and Veterinary Investigation Laboratory Karlsruhe (CVUA) in Germany recently provided the necessary methodology for calculating the risk for the ingestion of alcoholic beverages.

The team found that risk from ingesting acetaldehyde via alcoholic beverages alone may exceed usual safety limits for heavy drinkers. Their risk assessment study found that the average exposure to acetaldehyde from alcoholic beverages resulted in a life-time cancer risk of 7.6/10,000, with higher risk scenarios (e.g. contaminations in unrecorded alcohol) in the range of 1 in 1,000. As such, the life-time cancer risks for acetaldehyde from ingestion of alcoholic beverages greatly exceed the usual limits for cancer risks from the environment.

The research team noted, however, that this risk is compounded by the addition of acetaldehyde exposure from different sources. "The problem with acetaldehyde has been that although it has been recognized as toxic by Health Canada some years ago, most risk assessments to date were based on one source of exposure only" explained Dr. Jürgen Rehm, the lead scientist of the Toronto group and head of the Public Health and Regulatory Policies section at CAMH. "This has led to a negligence of the overall risk."

For example, in Toronto, even though there are limits for air exposure of acetaldehyde set by the responsible Public Health agency, these limits have been surpassed in the past. Alone, the risks associated with surpassing limits of acetaldehyde from the air may not yet be alarming, but for heavy drinkers and smokers, it adds to the acetaldehyde levels already received from these sources. This overall risk then surpasses established safety limits.

"Their risk assessment of acetaldehyde present as a congener in alcoholic beverages touches the tip of the iceberg," according to a Commentary on the CAMH/CVUA study in the journal Addiction.

Based on their study the scientists of CAMH recommend:

* That the classification of acetaldehyde with respect to cancer be re-examined, incorporating new evidence which points to an additional cancer risk to humans.
* That a further risk assessment should take into consideration all sources of exposure from this substance.
* That the risk for cancer stemming from acetaldehyde from alcoholic beverages is recognized, and necessary preventive steps are taken to reduce the acetaldehyde content in alcoholic beverages.
* That the overall level of acetaldehyde exposure be minimized to the lowest level technically possible.

Centre for Addiction and Mental Health

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	Acetaldehyde: Webster's Timeline History, 1884 - 2007 by Icon Group International (Author) Webster's bibliographic and event-based timelines are comprehensive in scope, covering virtually all topics, geographic locations and people. They do so from a linguistic point of view, and in the case of this book, the focus is on "Acetaldehyde," including when used in literature (e.g. all authors that might have Acetaldehyde in their name). As such, this book represents the largest compilation of timeline events associated with Acetaldehyde when it is used in proper noun form. Webster's timelines cover bibliographic citations, patented inventions, as well as non-conventional and alternative meanings which capture ambiguities in usage. These furthermore cover all parts of speech (possessive, institutional usage, geographic usage) and contexts, including pop culture, the arts, social...
	ORIGINAL PRINTED PATENT APPLICATION NUMBER 29,073 FOR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE, FROM ACETYLENE, OF ACETALDEHYDE AND CONDENSATION AND POLYMERISATION PRODUCTS THEREOF. (1910) by George William (inventor). Johnson (Author)
	ORIGINAL PATENT APPLICATION NUMBER 5,132 FOR A PROCESS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF ACETALDEHYDE FROM ACETYLENE (NURNBERG). by Consortium fur Elektrochemische Industrie GmbH. (Author)
	Effect of acetaldehyde on acute tolerance and ethanol consumption in drinker and nondrinker rats.: An article from: Journal of Studies on Alcohol by Lutske Tampier (Author), Maria Elena Quintanilla (Author) This digital document is an article from Journal of Studies on Alcohol, published by Alcohol Research Documentation, Inc. on May 1, 2002. The length of the article is 4936 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser. From the author: Objective: Acetaldehyde (ACH) has been shown to have aversive or reinforcing actions in relation to ethanol consumption. We have previously observed that a pharmacological dose of AcH (50-150 mg/kg) administered intraperitoneally (i.p.) produced a dose-dependent flavor aversion in low-ethanol drinker (UChA) rats, whereas high-ethanol drinker (UChB) rats appeared to be...
	Halogenated acetaldehydes: Analysis, stability and fate in drinking [An article from: Chemosphere] by B.K. Koudjonou (Author), G.L. LeBel (Author) This digital document is a journal article from Chemosphere, published by Elsevier in 2006. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser. Description: In our previous studies, chloral hydrate has been the only chlorinated acetaldehyde determined in drinking water because authentic standards of other related haloacetaldehydes were not available. Recently, standards of dichloroacetaldehyde, bromochloroacetaldehyde, dibromoacetaldehyde, bromodichloroacetaldehyde, chlorodibromoacetaldehyde, and tribromoacetaldehyde have become available commercially. They were obtained and verified for purity and stability using a dual-column GC-ECD system. Each commercial standard was...
	Genotoxicity of acetaldehyde- and crotonaldehyde-induced 1,N^2-propanodeoxyguanosine DNA adducts in human cells [An article from: Mut.Res.-Genetic Toxicology and Environmental Mutagenesis] by S. Stein (Author), Y. Lao (Author), I.Y. Yang (Author), S.S. Hecht (Author), M Moriya (Author) This digital document is a journal article from Mut.Res.-Genetic Toxicology and Environmental Mutagenesis, published by Elsevier in 2006. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser. Description: Reaction of crotonaldehyde or two molecules of acetaldehyde with DNA generates 3-(2'-deoxyribos-1'-yl)-5,6,7,8-tetrahydro-8-hydroxy-6-methylpyrimido[1,2-a]purine-10(3H)one (2, Scheme 1), which occurs in (6R, 8R) and (6S, 8S) configurations (Fig. 1). These diastereomers were site-specifically incorporated into oligonucleotides, which were then inserted into a double-stranded DNA vector for genotoxicity studies. Modified DNA was introduced into human xeroderma pigmentosum A...
	Removal of acetaldehyde in air using a wetted-wall corona discharge reactor [An article from: Chemical Engineering Journal] by K. Faungnawakij (Author), N. Sano (Author), D. Yamamoto (Author), T. Kanki (Author), C (Author) This digital document is a journal article from Chemical Engineering Journal, published by Elsevier in 2004. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser. Description: A vertical wetted-wall corona discharge reactor was used for removal of acetaldehyde in air. The reactor consists of a wire cathode sustained at the center of a cylindrical anode. Acetaldehyde laden air was fed either upward or downward through the wetted-wall reactor, in which water was circulated as a falling thin film on the inner wall of the anode. Ozone and short-lived species such as ions and radicals were generated in the reactor by gas corona. When some of these short-lived radicals drifted and...
	Evaluation of the role of heterogeneous oxidation of alkenes in the detection of atmospheric acetaldehyde [An article from: Atmospheric Environment] by M.J. Northway (Author), J.A. de Gouw (Author), D.W. Fahey (Author), R.S. Gao (Author) This digital document is a journal article from Atmospheric Environment, published by Elsevier in 2004. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser. Description: Unexpectedly high values for acetaldehyde have been observed in airborne measurements using a proton-transfer-reaction mass spectrometry instrument. The acetaldehyde values increase with increasing ambient ozone levels with a ratio up to 5pptv acetaldehyde per ppbv of ozone in the free troposphere. The elevated values of acetaldehyde cannot easily be explained from known tropospheric chemistry. Here, we investigate the possibility that the elevated acetaldehyde signals are due to a sampling artifact....
	Formaldehyde and acetaldehyde exchange during leaf development of the Amazonian deciduous tree species Hymenaea courbaril [An article from: Atmospheric Environment] by S. Rottenberger (Author), U. Kuhn (Author), A. Wolf (Author), G. Schebeske (Author), O (Author) This digital document is a journal article from Atmospheric Environment, published by Elsevier in 2005. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser. Description: The effect of leaf age on the formaldehyde (HCHO) and acetaldehyde (CH"3CHO) exchange pattern of the deciduous Amazonian tree species Hymenaea courbaril was investigated under field conditions. Branch enclosure measurements on senescent, young, and mature leaves showed that leaf development had a pronounced impact on the aldehyde exchange behavior with respect to both the direction and the magnitude of the exchange. The emission activity of senescent leaves was associated with a negative CO"2 balance, even...
	Levels and determinants of formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, and acrolein in residential indoor air in Prince Edward Island, Canada [An article from: Environmental Research] by N.L. Gilbert (Author), M. Guay (Author), J. David Miller (Author), S. Judek (Author) This digital document is a journal article from Environmental Research, published by Elsevier in . The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser. Description: This study was undertaken to determine the concentrations of formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, and acrolein in air samples taken in some Canadian houses and to determine the association between aldehyde levels and housing characteristics. Concentrations of formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, and acrolein were measured in 59 homes in Prince Edward Island, Canada, during the winter of 2002. Housing characteristics were documented through inspection and by interviews of occupants. Formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, and acrolein...