That daily tipple may not be such a good idea!

Jul 31 2007

Researchers in Britain say the more alcohol a person drinks, the greater their risk of developing bowel cancer.

This is of course very confusing as it implies we should disregard the positive news of late regarding the benefits of a glass of wine or a beer a day, because it now appears that the habit will in fact increase the risk of getting colon cancer by 10 percent, and the more you drink the greater the risk.

What is more the researchers say people who drink two pints of beer a day or two large glasses of wine have an increased risk of 25 percent.

Professor Tim Key an epidemiologist with Cancer Research UK and director of the cancer epidemiology unit in Oxford says the research shows quite clearly that the more alcohol you drink the greater your risk of bowel cancer.

For the study 480,000 people in 10 European countries were questioned about their drinking habits and monitored for a period of six years.

The researchers found that during that period 1,833 people in the group developed colon cancer.

The researchers say the lifetime risk for bowel cancer is one in 20 for men, and one in 18 for women; in the UK 35,000 new cases of colon cancer are diagnosed each year with some 16,000 people dying of it.

In the United States it is estimated new cases colon and rectal cancer will reach 112,340 (colon), 41,420 (rectal) in 2007, with deaths from colon and rectal cancer 52,180.

Cancer Research UK recommends that women should drink less than two units a day and men less than three.

One unit equates to eight grams of pure alcohol and the number of units depends on what you are drinking, and how strong it is.

Professor Key says people can reduce their risk of a number of different cancers including bowel cancer by cutting down on alcohol.

The results are part of the EPIC study, funded by Cancer Research UK, the Medical Research Council and other European agencies.

Experts agree that there is confusion over safe levels of drinking partly because of the varying strengths of some wines and beers and the variety of what constitutes a glass of wine, especially when some are equivalent to one third of a bottle.

They say there is increasing evidence that over indulging in alcohol can increase the risk of some cancers but by far the biggest risk for life threatening diseases is the combination of smoking together with drinking alcohol

The study is published in the International Journal of Cancer.