Call to lower alcohol limits for obese people

Overweight three times as likely to develop cancer and should abstain from drinking, study suggests

OVERWEIGHT people should be given lower drinking limits, scientists say, after research found alcohol does them more harm.

Government advice in the UK says men and women should not drink more than 14 units a week – the equivalent of about six pints of beer or standard glasses of wine. But researchers said the findings, from a study of 400,000 adults in Britain, should be used to cut the limits for the two in three adults who are overweight or obese.

The study, presented at the European Congress on Obesity in Maastricht, found excess weight raises the risk of developing alcohol-related cancer.

Despite staying within the recommendations, those who were overweight or obese were three times as likely to develop such cancers, compared with slimmer drinkers.

Dr Elif Inan-eroglu, who conducted both studies at the University of Sydney, said: “Alcohol drinking guidelines should also consider the obesity levels of people. People with [obesity] need to be more aware of the risks around alcohol consumption.”

The UK’S chief medical officers say it is safest for both men and women not to drink more than 14 units a week, spread over three or more days.

Dr Inan-eroglu said those guidelines were too general. She said: “If you have normal weight or if you have obesity, it doesn’t differ, but it should.”

Higher drinking allowances for people of a healthy weight could even act as “motivation”, she suggested – “if I eat less, I can drink more”.

The research used data on nearly 400,000 UK adults aged between 40 and 69 from the UK Biobank, and looked at how many developed cancer during a 12-year period.

They divided those people into three groups, according to their body fat percentages. When it came to alcoholrelated cancers, they found that higher levels of fat appeared to “amplify” the harmful effects of alcohol consumption.

When the most overweight group of drinkers were compared with slim nondrinkers, those drinking alcohol within UK limits were 53 per cent more likely to develop cancer.

When those drinking more than 14 units a week were compared, fatter drinkers were at 61 per cent greater risk than slim teetotallers.

But the study found it wasn’t just the alcohol or just the excess weight but the combination that proved deadly.

For those drinking within guidelines, the group with the highest body fat were 53 per cent more likely to develop related cancer than slim non-drinkers.

Slim drinkers were at only 19 per cent higher risk than non-drinkers.

For those drinking more than 14 units per week, the group with the highest body fat were 61 per cent more likely to develop cancer than slim non-drinkers.

Slim drinkers were at 37 per cent higher risk.

The eight alcohol-related cancers in the study were oral, throat, larynx, oesophagus, liver, bowel, stomach and female breast cancers.

“From a cancer-prevention [view] the safest level of alcohol consumption is total avoidance,” Dr Inan-eroglu said.

Dr Alison Giles, chief executive, Institute of Alcohol Studies, said: “What is crucial is that people who drink alcohol understand these risks, and better product labelling and public health campaigns can raise awareness of this.”

But critics said such changes would be “patronising and confusing”.

Matt Lambert, chief executive of the Portman Group, the drinks industryfunded body which promotes responsible drinking, said: “It is likely that having varied guidance for people would be confusing, counterproductive and also potentially patronising.”