British study finds more evidence linking alcohol consumption to cancer in women

A recent article by the Associated Press reported that even moderate alcohol consumption will increase the risk of multiple cancers in women.

Researchers from the United Kingdom surveyed about 1.3 million middle-aged British women at breast cancer screening clinics about their drinking habits. The researchers tracked the health of these women for seven years. The data collected concluded that a quarter of the women reportedly did not consume alcohol, and almost all the rest of the women reported consuming fewer than three drinks per day with the average being one drink a day.

The article states the researchers compared those who drank the least, those who drank two or fewer drinks in a week, with those who drank more. The conclusions were astonishing: with each extra drink per day consumed, a woman's risk of breast, rectal and liver cancer increased. The type of alcohol - whine, beer or liquor - didn't matter. This discovery is supported by earlier research done on the subject, but this data also deduced that alcohol consumption was linked to esophageal and oral cancers only when smokers drank.

Many young women who smoke when they drink don't consider themselves "smokers," however this new research may make them think twice about both drinking and lighting up.

Interestingly, the research also revealed that moderate drinkers had a lower risk of thyroid cancer, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and renal cell cancer.

According to the AP article, "For an individual woman, the overall alcohol risk is small. In developed countries, about 118 of every 1,000 women develop any of these cancers, and each extra daily drink added 11 breast cancers and four of the other types to that rate, the study found."

This research was published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

To check out a YouTube video on this article by the BBC, go HERE.