BOSTON, Aug. 19 (UPI) — Light to moderate daily drinking can increase the risk for certain cancers — including colon, liver, heart, oral and throat — especially increasing the risk among women for breast cancer, according to a large study.
Researchers caution that while the study does not prove alcohol causes cancer, it did show an association with increased risk. They suggest, rather, that it shows people should consider following guidelines set out for daily intake of alcohol.
“Our study reinforces the dietary guidelines that it is important not to go beyond one drink per day for women and two drinks per day for men,” Yin Cao, a research fellow in the nutrition department at Harvard’s T. H. Chan School of Public Health, told HealthDay.
One drink is considered to be about 14 grams of alcohol, which is usually contained in one 4-ounce glass of wine or 12-ounce bottle of beer.
The researchers in the study, published in the British Medical Journal, reviewed data on 88,084 women and 47,881 men participating in the Nurses’ Health Study from 1980 and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study from 1986 who were followed until 2010.
In the case of both men and women, the researchers reported small increases in the chances of developing cancer, relevant to the amount of alcohol consumed by participants each day. Women were seen to have an overall 2 to 6 percent greater chance of developing cancer and men had a 3 to 6 percent greater chance based on recommended daily consumption. In the case of breast cancer, the researchers saw an approximate 13 percent increase in risk for women.
The researchers said they considered for smoking, medical history, age, race, height, weight and other factors — nearly all of which can alter a person’s risk factor for developing any kind of cancer.
In an editorial published by British Medical Journal with the study, researchers suggest altering one’s daily alcohol consumption based on family history of cancer, especially breast cancer.
“The elevated risks for certain cancers associated with light and moderate drinking are important, and have partly been confirmed by the present study,” researchers wrote in the editorial. “Even when we consider all cause mortality attributable to alcohol, drinking more than 10 grams of pure alcohol per day for women or 20 grams for men over a lifetime can lead to a magnitude of risk not considered acceptable for voluntary behavior in modern societies.”
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