Alcohol and Cancer Risk

BY: BARBARA KANTROWITZ

A new study suggests that even moderate drinking can raise your risk of cancer

If you've been following health news for the last few years, you might have begun to believe that red wine and other alcoholic drinks are actually health food. Many headlines have touted the purported benefits of alcohol – implying that non-drinkers should get on board if they want to live longer.

In fact, that was never the message health researchers intended to convey and now a new study suggests that the non-drinkers may have been on the right track.

The study, published in the American Journal of Public Health, found that people who consumed three or more drinks a day accounted for up to 60 percent of deaths from seven kinds of cancer.

People who drink less shouldn't relax, however. The study found that people who consume up to 1.5 drinks daily account for up to 35 percent of those cancer deaths.

These results could mean that drinking any alcohol at all on a daily basis increases your cancer risk.

The government defines a drink as one 12-ounce bottle of beer, a five-ounce glass of wine or 1.5 ounces of hard liquor.

The risk of drinking varied by gender. For women, breast cancer led with most alcohol-related deaths, according to the study. In men, the most common alcohol-related cancers were cancers of the mouth and throat.

So what about all those studies that showed health benefits for alcohol? Many researchers have long suspected they were flawed. People who drink red wine may be healthier for reasons other than their daily glass of merlot.

However, this doesn't necessarily mean that people without a drinking problem have to completely give up an occasional wine or beer. Just don't make it a daily habit.

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