University of British Columbia, Faculty of Medicine, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
Environ Health Perspect. 2024 Jan;132(1):16001. doi: 10.1289/EHP13506. Epub 2024 Jan 19.
The association between alcohol and certain cancers is well established, yet beyond ethanol and its metabolite acetaldehyde, little is known about the presence of other carcinogenic compounds in alcoholic beverages, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), such as benzo[a]pyrene (a Group I carcinogen).
We summarized the published literature on PAH levels in alcoholic beverages to identify potential gaps in knowledge to inform future research.
Medline and Scopus were searched for primary research published from January 1966 to November 2023 that quantified PAH levels among various types of alcoholic beverages, including whisky, rum, brandy, gin, vodka, wine, and beer. Studies that were not primary literature were excluded; only studies that quantified PAH content in the specified alcoholic beverages were included.
Ten studies published from 1966 to 2019 met the criteria for review. Other than beverage type, no publication reported selection criteria for their samples of tested alcohol products. Studies used a variety of analytical methods to detect PAHs. Of the 10 studies, 7 were published after 2000, and 6 assessed products. Of the studies, 7 examined spirits; 3, beer; and 4, wines. Benzo[a]pyrene was most prevalent among spirit products, particularly whisky, with values generally exceeding acceptable levels for drinking water. Some beer and wine products also contained PAHs, albeit at lower levels and less frequently than spirit products.
PAHs are found in some alcohol products and appear to vary by beverage type. However, there is an incomplete understanding of their presence and levels among large, representative samples from the range of currently available alcohol products. Addressing this gap could improve understanding of alcohol-cancer relationships and may have important implications for public health and the regulation of alcohol products. In addition, novel methods, such as direct mass spectroscopy, may facilitate more thorough testing of samples to further investigate this relationship. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP13506.
酒精与某些癌症之间的关联已得到充分证实，但除了乙醇及其代谢物乙醛之外，对于酒精饮料中其他致癌化合物的存在，包括多环芳烃（PAHs），如苯并[a]芘（I 类致癌物），知之甚少。
我们总结了已发表的关于酒精饮料中 PAH 水平的文献，以确定知识空白，为未来的研究提供信息。
检索 Medline 和 Scopus 数据库，以获取 1966 年 1 月至 2023 年 11 月间发表的关于各种类型酒精饮料（包括威士忌、朗姆酒、白兰地、杜松子酒、伏特加、葡萄酒和啤酒）中 PAH 水平的原始研究。排除非原始文献；仅纳入定量检测指定酒精饮料中 PAH 含量的研究。
1966 年至 2019 年期间发表的 10 项研究符合综述标准。除了饮料类型外，没有一篇文献报告了其测试酒精产品样本的选择标准。研究使用了多种分析方法来检测 PAHs。在这 10 项研究中，有 7 项发表于 2000 年后，6 项评估了产品。其中，7 项研究了烈酒；3 项研究了啤酒；4 项研究了葡萄酒。在烈酒产品中，特别是威士忌中，苯并[a]芘最为普遍，其含量通常超过饮用水的可接受水平。一些啤酒和葡萄酒产品中也含有 PAHs，但含量较低，且比烈酒产品少见。
PAHs 存在于一些酒精产品中，似乎因饮料类型而异。然而，对于目前可获得的各种酒精产品中，这些化合物的存在和水平在大量代表性样本中仍存在认识上的不足。解决这一差距可以增进对酒精与癌症关系的了解，可能对公共卫生和酒精产品监管具有重要意义。此外，直接质谱等新方法可能有助于更全面地检测样品，以进一步研究这种关系。https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP13506.
