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The Cancer Institute of New South Wales has come out
with a study released yesterday claiming that alcohol in moderation can
still cause cancer with two standard glasses of alcohol a day increasing
the risk of mouth cancer by 75% for both men and women.
The institute published its findings on Thursday, in
a report titled Alcohol as a Cause of Cancer. The report reviewed 600
pieces of international research and conducted an international audit
of cancer and alcohol research. It was instituted to try to find the cause
of increasing level of cancer in society.
The study does not make any distinction between wine
and other alcohols like beer or spirits.
Jim Bishop, Chief of the Institute concedes that "The
risk is quite low at low levels of alcohol intake, but as the alcohol
goes up on average per day the risk will increase," he said.' Although
red wine is helpful for cardiac disease, there is no benefit of alcohol
when it comes to cancer,' he added. 'The evidence now for cancer was that
there was no known lower limit when it came to drinking.'
Mr. Bishop said about a third of all cancers were preventable
and cutting down on alcohol must be part of any cancer-prevention strategy.
He said the risks of cancer were very high in the community -- one in
two men and one in three women.
"The risk is not huge- it's around 10 to 20 per
cent per average drink - but if you have two average drinks a day every
day of your life then that's the increased risk you're running,"
said Bishop.
NSW Assistant Health Minister Verity Firth, who released
the report on Thursday, said the alarming links to cancer had been generally
ignored in debate over alcohol consumption.
"In fact, alcohol consumption is a significant
risk factor for a number of cancers, including those of the breast, bowel,
throat and mouth," Ms Firth said.
Ms Firth added that the World Health Organisation now
lists alcohol as a top-rated group 1 carcinogen.
The 2006 New South Wales Population Health Survey had
found 70 per cent of NSW adults drank alcohol, with 17.6 per cent drinking
at risky levels.
'We cannot police every person's drinking habits. But
we want to make sure people have the information they need to make healthy
choices about alcohol use for themselves,' said Ms. Firth
Here are some of the other findings:
Two standard drinks per day increases their risk of
women developing breast cancer by up to 22 %.
Four alcoholic drinks per day increases a man's risk
of developing bowel cancer by 64 %
The report also found 12% of all breast cancer cases
in NSW could be directly linked to excessive consumption of alcohol.
The National Health and Medical Research Council will
release updated guidelines on safe alcohol consumption in June. It's expected
that there'll be a reduction in the number of standard drinks recommended
for men and women. The new recommendation is expected to bring down the
safe drinking levels down to two drinks a day for both men and women.
The Department of Health's current advice is that men
should not regularly drink more than 3-4 units of alcohol per day, and
women should not regularly drink more than 2-3 units of alcohol per day.
The Mouth Cancer Foundation is now calling for a reduction
in the current daily alcohol intake safety guidelines. Founder of the
Mouth Cancer Foundation, Dr Vinod Joshi says: 'In view of this latest
report the current alcohol guidelines that we've got are actually very
high.
'To reduce the risk of mouth cancer, the Mouth Cancer
Foundation recommends that people should limit or avoid alcohol altogether.'
For men, the Mouth Cancer Foundation recommends no more
than two standard drinks a day and for women no more than one standard
drink a day.
The evidence about alcohol and the link to cancer is
growing and people should be more aware of the risks and reduce their
alcohol consumption.
Whatever be the prejudices or limitations of the parameters
chosen to come to this conclusion, reports like these will help educate
people in the anti-alcohol lobby. Rather than trying to coerce the states
and the film industry into banning alcohol, people like Mr. A. Ramadoss,
the Health Minister of India should publicise the report extensively to
promote anti-alcoholism.
The study appears to have concentrated on those drinking
3-4 plus glasses of alcohol daily, with no specific focus on wine drinkers.
It has already been well documented in almost all the studies that more
than two drinks are harmful not only from the point of view of cancer
but also blood pressure, liver, etc.
It does not seem to have taken into account several
studies in the recent past that concluded that wine was beneficial for
cancer, up to two standard drinks a day, except for women. While the study
suggests caution, Indian Wine Academy has always recommended a moderate,
two glasses of wine daily and we continue to do so-editor
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