They say that moderate alcohol drinking may be good for the health. However, a new study says that even light and moderate drinking of about one drink a day for women and two drinks a day for men could eventually increase their risk of cancer.
In the study published in the British Medical Journal, drinking alcohol lightly or moderately was linked with increased risk of cancer for both men and women. However, in women, the researchers found out that drinking as little as one drink per day was linked with an increased risk of breast cancer. For men, however, it is slightly increased to two drinks per day but only among those who smoked, reports EurekAlert.
"People with a family history of cancer should consider reducing their intake to below recommended limits or even abstaining altogether, given the now well-established link between moderate drinking and alcohol-related cancers," Dr. Jurgen Rehm at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto said in an editorial.
Since the information and body of knowledge about the association of alcohol and even smoking with cancer risk is still unclear. To seek for answers, the researchers from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Brigham Women's Hospital in Boston, used data from two large studies in the United States. With the data at hand, they tracked 88,084 women and 47,881 men for up to three decades.
They traced and analyzed risk of total cancer including those precipitated by alcohol intake like cancer of the colon, rectum, breast, liver, oral, pharynx, larynx and esophagus.
The researchers found out as written in the study, "Light to moderate drinking is associated with minimally increased risk of overall cancer."
They concluded, "For men who have never smoked, risk of alcohol related cancers is not appreciably increased for light and moderate drinking. However, for women who have never smoked, risk of alcohol related cancers (mainly breast cancer) increases even within the range of up to one alcoholic drink a day."
