Exactly how many alcoholic drinks a week raises your risk of different cancers revealed

APOLOGIES if you’re reading this with a glass of something boozy in one hand, but the verdict is out: drinking increases your risk of cancer.

Experts from Cancer Research UK (CRUK)and the US National Cancer Institute (NCI), now all agree that alcohol contributes to at least seven different types of cancers, including breast, bowel and voice box.

Yet, a new report suggests that most people are unaware of the established risk.

Experts at the American Association for Cancer Research found more than half (51 per cent) of people in the US don’t know that alcohol increases your risk of cancer.

Elsewhere, like in the UK and Europe, other research has shown public awareness may be even lower.

Perhaps this isn’t too surprising given the growing debate within the scientific community over recent years about how much alcohol is truly ‘safe’ to consume.

Is a glass of red wine not good for our hearts? Is a drink or two not good for relaxing you and reducing harmful swelling and damage in the blood vessels?

Even if this may be true, a report published on the NCI’s website, suggests as little as one drink per day is enough to increase your risk of several cancers, challenging the idea that a glass of wine with dinner is ‘fine’.

Dr Therese Bevers, medical director of MD Anderson’s Cancer Prevention Center, said: “The important thing to remember is that every time you drink, you increase your cancer risk.

“As with cigarettes and processed meat, there is no safe amount of alcohol”.

In the UK, approximately 29.2 million adults reported having drunk alcohol, which is around 57 per cent of the adult population, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Each year, around 12,000 Brits are diagnosed with cancers linked to alcohol, leading to an estimated 4,200 deaths.

Similar high figures relating to booze can be seen around the world, including in the US.

How much alcohol can I drink?

Because drinking is so common, researchers at the NCI have begun to keep track of emerging trends linking alcohol to certain cancers. 

They found that if you’re a woman who has seven drinks per week or a man who has 14 drinks per week – otherwise known as a moderate drinker – your risk of developing mouth and throat cancers is 1.8 times higher than those who don’t drink. 

The threshold is higher for men as they usually process alcohol faster than women, so it affects them different, Dr Therese said

The report defines one drink as either 350ml (12 ounces) of beer, a shot of a spirit or 145ml (five ounces) of wine. 

For the same amount of boozing, your risk of developing cancer in the voice box is 1.4 times higher than people who don’t drink. 

Men who drink 15 or more drinks per week and women who drink eight or more drinks per week – otherwise known as heavy drinkers – have a 2.6 higher risk of developing voice box cancers.

The same groups have a five times greater risk of developing mouth and throat cancers. 

Drinking a moderate amount of alcohol raises your risk for developing cancers of the oesophagus – the tube that connects the throat to the stomach – by 1.3 times higher than not touching booze.

Heavy drinking increases your risk of this cancer five times higher than if you weren’t to drink at all. 

In the mouth and throat, alcohol can be an irritant, damaging and inflaming the delicate cells that line the area, according to CRUK.

This can also make the cells more susceptible to damage from carcinogens, like cigarette smoke. 

Scientists haven’t found an increased risk of liver cancer in moderate drinkers.

But in heavy drinkers, the risk for liver cancer is two times higher than in teetotalers. 

This is because drinking alcohol long-term can cause cirrhosis of the liver, which, in turn, increases the risk of liver cancer.

Moderate drinkers experience a 1.2 times higher risk for colorectal cancers than those who don’t drink.

Heavy drinkers, on the other hand, have a 1.5 times higher risk of cancers for the bowel and the rectum than those who don’t drink.

Experts believe this is because alcohol can damage the cells that line the inside of the bowel, which makes it more likely for cancer to develop. 

Moving beyond the digestive tract, scientists have found that women who drink moderately have a 1.23 times higher risk of developing breast cancer than those who don’t drink at all.

Doctors have said that this could be because alcohol can increase the amount of female hormone oestrogen circulating in the body.

High levels of oestrogen have previously been linked to an increased risk of breast cancer.