The study carried on by researchers from Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston underlines that consuming as little as one glass of wine everyday can put women at greater risk of developing breast cancer.
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Men and women who engaged in light to moderate drinking were found to be at a small but “non-significant” increased total cancer risk, regardless of their smoking history.
The study also said there’s a link between drinking and cancer in men too, but only for those who have smoked at one point in their lives.
The study differentiates light to moderate alcohol consumption as drinking less than 15 grams (two drinks) of alcoholic beverages for women daily and 30 grams (three to four drinks) of alcohol for men each day.
It is estimated alcohol consumption has caused 3.6 per cent of all cancers worldwide, 1.7 per cent on women and 5.2 per cent in men. The research said the link between light drinking and breast cancer in women was the same whether or not they smoked. While heavy drinking has been scientifically connected to a variety of cancers including liver, esophageal, and mouth, the study aimed to examine the effects of light to moderate drinking on cancer, specifically breast cancer.
Health Day reports findings from the study based on data obtained from he Nurses’ Health and the Health Professionals Follow-up studies involving 136,000 adults.
It was concluded that the light to moderate drinking did, indeed, affect the risk of total cancer in both sexes, but the number was so insignificant it was barely worth mentioning. “Although we have limited information on family history of these cancers, we observed stronger association of alcohol intake and overall cancer among people who had a family history of colorectal cancer but minimal differences among people with versus without family history of breast cancer”. Non smoking men didn’t show any higher risk. Heavy drinkers were also found to be more likely to become long-term smokers. For men, this risk was increased, but non-significantly, in those with light to moderate consumption of alcohol independent of smoking.
Jurgen Rehm, director of the social and epidemiological research department at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, wasn’t surprised by the results.
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The theory is supported by other health experts, such as Dr. Richard Roope, who is the clinical Lead for cancer at the Royal College of Global Positioning System.
