Alcohol raises risk of breast cancer by 15pc

HAVING just one drink a day raises the risk of breast cancer in women by 15 per cent, a major study has found.

The Harvard University study found a link between alcohol and cancer in men who had smoked at some point in their lives, but not in those who had never been a smoker.

However, even in women who had never smoked, the risk of alcohol-related cancers, mainly in the breast, increased even after one alcoholic drink a day.

Researchers said that because smoking is a major risk factor for most alcoholrelated cancers the apparent influence of alcohol on cancer could be partly driven by its effect among smokers.

Light or moderate drinking was classed as less than 15g (around one-and-a-half units or just under two drinks) a day in women and 30g (three units or three or four drinks) and below in men.

The study of more than 88,000 women and 47,000 men aged over 30 said it is estimated that alcohol consumption has caused 3.6 per cent of all cancers worldwide – 1.7 per cent in women and 5.2 per cent in men.

An accompanying editorial in the BMJ by Dr Jurgen Rehm of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, said more research is needed, and is increasingly possible in high income countries where the number of non-smokers has increased while alcohol consumption has been relatively stable.

Dr Richard Roope, of the Royal College of GPs, commented: “Habits such as smoking and drinking alcohol are very real risk factors in developing cancer.”