New Delhi: Alcohol is far from healthy and that is a no-brainer. Multiple advisories against it are issued in several places – in movie theatres and even on the bottle itself. The World Health Organisation (WHO), too, associated it with cancer risk and largely, according to experts, cancers of the breast, voice box, and bowel. A new report also shows that most of the people are unaware of the risk. Experts at the American Association for Cancer Research discovered that 51% of people in the US are unaware of cancer risk. However, some experts continue to stress that drinking one or two glasses of red wine could do the trick in improving heart health in the long run. But how much alcohol does it take to raise cancer risk?
How does alcohol intake affect cancer risk?
According to a report, drinking even one drink per day is good enough to raise cancer risk. This puts into question the norm that drinking one glass of wine can be good for health. But just like smoking, there is no safe limit for alcohol either. Talking of how much alcohol one can drink, it was found that drinking alcohol is associated with some forms of cancer. It was also found that women who consumed up to seven drinks in a week and men who consumed about 14 drinks in a week, normally known as moderate drinkers, are 1.8 times more likely to develop mouth and throat cancer. The risk of voice box cancer is influenced by 1.4 times.
Experts say that the threshold is much higher for men as they process alcohol faster than women which is why the effects are bound to be different. Experts also found that men who consumed 15 or more drinks than women and women who had eight or more drinks were 2.6 times more prone to the disease. The same groups have a five times higher risk of suffering from mouth and throat cancer. Further, drinking alcohol can also cause cancer of the oesophagus.
Heavy drinking can also increase cancer risk by five times as compared to those people who did not drink at all. In the throat and mouth, alcohol can be damaging, work as an irritant, and may even inflame cells in that area. This can also make cells more sensitive to damage from cigarette smoke. However, in the case of liver cancer, researchers did not see much difference in the risks for moderate drinkers. This is because long-term consumption of alcohol can cause fatty liver, cirrhosis and it may even spike liver cancer risk. Moderate drinkers, on the other hand, are 1.2 times more likely to suffer from colorectal cancer. Women who drink alcohol in moderate quantities may also experience an increased risk of cancer by 1.23 times. High estrogen could also take the blame.
According to a report, drinking even one drink per day is good enough to raise cancer risk. This puts into question the norm that drinking one glass of wine can be good for health. But just like smoking, there is no safe limit for alcohol either. Health News Health News: Latest News from Health Care, Mental Health, Weight Loss, Disease, Nutrition, Healthcare
