Adverse health effects of alcohol consumption such as cardiovascular disease and alcoholic liver disease are already well-known worldwide. According to a recent European study, around one in ten cancers in men and one in 33 cancers in women in Western Europe is caused by alcohol.
On the basis of the study’s calculation, at least 13,000 cancer cases come under notice in a year in the UK, comprising 9,000 in men and 4,000 in women. The investigators, including scientists at the Cancer Epidemiology Unit at Oxford University, point out that a considerable proportion (40 to 98 percent) of the cancers could be traced from individuals who consumed more than the recommended guidelines.
Dr Naomi Allen of the Cancer Epidemiology Unit at Oxford University, one of the authors of the study, stated “This research supports existing evidence that alcohol causes cancer and that the risk increases even with drinking moderate amounts.”
The researchers paid attention over different levels of drinking and how they influence the potentiality of cancer employing data from the European Prospective Investigation of Cancer. In order to disclose the number of cancers that can be accredited to alcohol, the examiners merged the above stated figures on how much people drink.
Besides this, the research also sheds light on the possibility of cancer even with moderate amounts of alcohol. The study covered France, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, The Netherlands, Greece, Germany and Denmark.
“The results from this study reflect the impact of people’s drinking habits about ten years ago. People are drinking even more now than then and this could lead to more people developing cancer because of alcohol in the future,” revealed Dr Allen.
The report was published in the British Medical Journal.