According to health experts drinking safe amount of alcohol below the suggested daily limit raises the risk of developing cancer, with threat remaining even if you become teetotal. One in ten cases of cancer in males and one in thirty-three in females is found in UK due to drinking and the statistics are rising.
In most of the cases bingeing is responsible, but some are aroused by drinking below the daily recommended levels. The research team led by Naomi Allen from Oxford University has been following participants across the Europe for years. Statistics from eight European countries counting Britain were analyzed to find out the percentage of cancer cases caused by alcohol.
The results of this study reflected the impact of drinking habits of people about ten years ago. People are drinking even more now and this could lead to more people developing cancer because of alcohol in the future. This supports obtainable facts that alcohol causes cancer and that the risk increases even with drinking moderate amounts, stated Naomi Allen.
According to NHS guidelines, men should drink no more than four units a day while women should not go beyond three units a day. One unit is almost equal to a third of a pint of beer. Another study analyzed people drinking more than three units a day for males and one and half for females.
The study found that Germans were most likely to go beyond three units a day, means forty-four percent of male population followed by Denmark by forty three and half percent and Britain by forty-one percent. However, German women were most likely to drink more than one and half units a day.
Cancers of the pharynx, oesophagus and voice box were most commonly caused by alcohol, subsequently cancer of the liver. The study also showed that drinking caused five per cent of breast cancers in women. The study was published in the British Medical Journal.
Many people are not aware that drinking alcohol can augment their cancer risk. Keeping alcohol intake to a maximum of one small drink a day for women and two small drinks per day for men can have a real impact, stated Sara Hiom, director of health information from Cancer Research UK, which subsidizes the study.