Are you putting yourself at risk?
By drinking one alcoholic drink a day, women are raising the risk of cancer by five per cent, according to new research.
Women drinking 'heavily' by havng three or more drinks a day are up to 50 per cent more likely to develop breast cancer than those who abstain, it has been found.
Published in the journal Alcohol and Alcoholism, the study had thoroughly examined over 1,000 other studies which had studied association between alcohol and breast cancer.
For this new review study, a team of researchers from Germany and Italy set out to analyse epidemiological data on the relationship of alcohol and breast cancer, with a particular focus on light alcohol consumption.
The researchers from the University of Heidelberg in Germany and the University of Milan, in Italy, wrote in the journal: "Since several populations show a high prevalence of light drinkers among women, even the small increase in risk we reported — in the order of five per cent — represents a major public health issue in terms of breast cancers attributable to alcohol consumption."
According to Helmut Seiz and colleagues from the University of Heidelberg, Germany, alcohol is known to increase the risk of several cancers, in both sexes, including bowel cancer. But breast tissue is thought to be particularly sensitive to its carcinogenic effects.
Breast cancer has soared in recent decades with new cases doubling since the early 1970s, partly driven by the rise in alcohol consumption. It is now the commonest cancer, with almost 49,000 cases and 12,000 deaths a year, despite affecting only one sex.
Tagged in Health