135,000 UK drinkers ‘will die of cancer before 2035’

MORE than 135,000 of us will die of cancer caused by alcohol in the next 20 years, researchers claim.

Drinking will cause 7,100 UK cancer deaths a year by 2034, a rise of 13 per cent on the current rate.

The study estimates alcohol will cost the NHS £53billion in the next decade, £2 billion of it on cancer.

Although alcohol is known to trigger cancers including breast, throat and bowel, a survey of 2,100 Britons earlier this year found that nine in ten did not associate drinking with cancer.

In the latest study by Sheffield University and Cancer Research UK, scientists used a computer model to estimate the numbers of alcohol-related cancer deaths, hospital admissions and costs to the NHS over the next 20 years.

It showed alcohol-related cancer deaths will rise from 6,299 in 2015 to 7,097 in 2034. Drinking will lead to 891,299 hospital admissions, up from 802,118 in 2015, and 65,005 will be caused by cancer.

Alison Cox, director of prevention at Cancer Research UK, said: ‘It’s hugely important the public are aware of the link between alcohol and cancer’.

Earlier this year chief medical officer Dame Sally Davies overhauled the alcohol guidelines, urging no more than 14 units a week. But campaigners say this guidance doesn’t go far enough.