"Alcohol and endogenous aldehydes damage chromosomes and mutate stem cells"
Juan I. Garaycoechea, Gerry P. Crossan, Frédéric Langevin, Lee Mulderrig, Sandra Louzada, Fentang Yang, Guillaume Guilbaud, Naomi Park, Sophie Roerink, Serena Nik-Zainal, Michael R.
Stratton & Ketan J. Patel
Nature doi:10.1038/nature25154
This pay-walled article, published in "Nature," presents fresh evidence that alcohol can damage chromosomes and cause mutations. If you don't have a zillion dollars to spare, The American Cancer Society has put together a layman's version of the subject here.
Here's an explainer from Britain's National Health Service. And here's an interview with one of the authors, published in "Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News." Suffice to say that among the many health problems alcohol can cause, the one that all too often goes unmentioned, namely cancer, is not a trivial side effect.
