Alcohol increases risk of various cancers

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Wednesday 24 Feb 2016 - 20:41 Makkah mean time-15-5-1437 Brain dysfunction relating to alcohol consumption: Research Paper. Image from pinterest London, (IINA) - A new public health advice says there is no ‘safe’ alcohol limit as even small amounts can increase the risk of some cancers, Mail Online health news reported. There are new studies debunking previous research linking moderate consumption with a range of health benefits, particularly reduced heart risk. One huge UK-based population study published last year showed simply comparing alcohol consumption with health outcomes gave a clear protective benefit from moderate drinking. But once former drinkers were taken out of the non-drinking group, these supposed benefits all but disappeared. So the advice concludes that the benefits of alcohol for heart health only applies for women aged 55 and over and even then in very small amounts, around five units a week. And that is not enough to justify recommending drinking on health grounds. The unpalatable truth is that alcohol contributes to more than 60 medical conditions, including many cancers, high blood pressure, liver cirrhosis and depression. And of course what we often forget is alcohol can also pile on the calories, which contributes to soaring obesity levels, with all the health issues that brings. Hospital admissions due to alcohol have doubled in the past decade and it directly causes around 9,000 deaths a year in the UK. Between four and 30 percent of cancer deaths worldwide could come down to alcohol use eight percent for the commonest of these, breast cancer. Crucially even moderate drinking increases our risk. Even one glass a day increases the risk of breast cancer by four percent, while heavy drinking three or more drinks a day increases it by a whopping 40-50 percent. Even those who don’t think they have an alcohol problem can be damaging their health without realizing it. The article is the second in a series of 12 contributed by Dr Sally Norton from topics addressed in her Vavista Life Wellbeing & Weight Loss Programme. SM/IINA