Analysis implicates alcohol in development of breast, liver and other types of cancer and says even moderate consumption is a risk 
 
 Alcohol causes seven forms of cancer, and people consuming even low to moderate amounts are at risk, according to new analysis. 
 
 
 
 Health experts endorsed the findings and said they showed that ministers should initiate more education campaigns in order to tackle widespread public ignorance about how closely alcohol and cancer are connected. The study sparked renewed calls for regular drinkers to be encouraged to take alcohol-free days, and for alcohol packaging to carry warning labels. 
 
 Fresh analysis of evidence accumulated over recent years implicates alcohol in the development of breast, colon, liver and other types of cancer. 
 
 The study, published in the scientific journal Addiction, concludes that there is more than simply a link or statistical association between alcohol and cancer that could be explained by something else. There is now enough credible evidence to say conclusively that drinking is a direct cause of the disease, according to Jennie Connor, of the preventive and social medicine department at Otago University in New Zealand. 
 
 “There is strong evidence that alcohol causes cancer at seven sites in the body and probably others,” Connor said. “Even without complete knowledge of biological mechanisms [of how alcohol causes cancer], the epidemiological evidence can support the judgment that alcohol causes cancer of the oropharynx, larynx, oesophagus, liver, colon, rectum and breast.” 
 
 Alcohol-related deaths in England up 4% in one year Read more 
 
 Growing evidence suggested that alcohol was also likely to cause skin, prostate and pancreatic cancer, she added. Emphasising that a drinker’s risk increased in relation to the amount consumed, Connor said: “For all these there is a dose-response relationship.” 
 
 Connor arrived at her conclusions after studying reviews undertaken over the past 10 years by the World Cancer Research Fund, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, the World Health Organisation’s cancer body, and other authoritative bodies. 
 
 “The highest risks are associated with the heaviest drinking but a considerable burden is experienced by drinkers with low to moderate consumption, due to the distribution of drinking in the population,” Connor said. Campaigns to reduce alcohol consumption should therefore try to encourage everyone to cut down, as targeting only heavy drinkers had “limited potential” to reduce alcohol-related cancer, she added. 
 
 In February Prof Dame Sally Davies, the chief medical officer for England, caused a stir by warning women that drinking alcohol could cause breast cancer. She told a parliamentary hearing: “Do as I do when I reach for my glass of wine. Think: do I want the glass of wine or do I want to raise my own risk of breast cancer? I take a decision each time I have a glass.” 
 
 Davies played a key role in drawing up new government guidelines on safe drinking limits, published in January, which recommended that men reduce their maximum weekly intake of alcohol from 21 to 14 units, or seven pints of beer a week, which is the longstanding threshold that women are advised not to exceed. 
 
 The growing evidence of alcohol’s role in causing cancer, underlined by a report by the UK Committee on Carcinogenicity, was a key reason behind Davies and her counterparts in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland issuing advice that some said was impractical and would be ignored. Sticking to the new guidelines would help keep drinkers’ risk of cancer low, the proponents said. 
 
 Dr Jana Witt, Cancer Research UK’s health information officer, said: “We know that nine in 10 people aren’t aware of the link between alcohol and cancer. And this review is a stark reminder that there’s strong evidence linking the two.” 
 
 A recent CRUK study found that when people were shown a list of different cancers, only one in five of them knew that breast cancer could be caused by drinking, compared to four out of five people who knew that alcohol could cause liver cancer. 
 
 “Having some alcohol-free days each week is a good way to cut down on the amount you’re drinking,” Witt said. “Also, try swapping every other alcoholic drink for a soft drink, choosing smaller servings or less alcoholic versions of drinks, and not keeping a stock of booze at home.” 
 
 Alan Boobis, professor of biochemical pharmacology at Imperial College London, said the science showing alcohol’s role in cancer was well established. “The main difficulty is communicating effectively with the public,” he said. 
 
 Connor’s study also found that people who smoke and drink are at even greater risk of developing cancer. 
 
 More positively, there was some evidence that drinkers who gave up alcohol could reverse their risk of laryngeal, pharyngeal and liver cancer, and that their risk reduced the longer they avoided alcohol, Connor’s research found. 
 
 Elaine Hindal, chief executive of Drinkaware, the alcohol industry-funded education charity, agreed that drinking and cancer risk were closely linked. 
 
 “Regularly drinking more than the government’s low-risk guidelines puts you at increased risk of some types of cancer, and can also increase your risk of heart and liver disease, strokes and pancreatitis,” she said. “Smoking and drinking together increases your risk of developing throat and mouth cancer more than doing either on their own.” 
 
 People drinking more than the recommended limits should cut down in order to safeguard their future health, she added. 

 Drinking alcohol may cause seven different types of cancer, according to a new opinion article. 
 
 Previous studies have found an association between drinking alcohol and a higher risk of developing certain cancers, according to the article. However, it was not clear from the studies if drinking alcohol directly caused cancer. 
 
 In the new piece, published today (July 21) in the journal Addiction, Dr. Jennie Connor, a preventive-medicine doctor at the University of Otago in New Zealand, looked at the major review studies done over the last decade on alcohol and cancer, including reviews from the American Institute for Cancer Research and the International Agency for Research on Cancer. [7 Ways Alcohol Affects Your Health] 
 
 "There is strong evidence that alcohol causes cancer at seven sites [in the body], and probably others," Connor wrote. 
 
 The evidence supports "a causal association of alcohol consumption" with cancer in the oropharynx (a part of the throat), the larynx, the esophagus, the liver, the colon, the rectum and the female breast, Connor wrote. 
 
 There is also growing evidence suggesting a strong link between alcohol and other cancers, such as prostate, pancreatic and melanoma. However, that evidence is not enough at this point to allow researchers to conclude that there is cause-and-effect relationship for these cancers, according to the article. 
 
 Moreover, for each of the seven cancers that are directly linked, previous studies have found that there is a "dose-response relationship," meaning that the more alcohol a person drinks, the more likely the person is to develop those cancers. 
 
 In addition, previous studies have also found that for some cancers, a person's risk of developing cancer goes down when a person stops drinking, according to the article. 
 
 The link between alcohol and cancers of the mouth and throat were stronger than the link between alcohol and other cancers, Connor wrote. For example, drinking more than 50 grams of alcohol a day is was associated with a four to seven times greater risk of developing mouth, throat or esophagus cancer compared with not drinking at all. (The number of grams of alcohol in 1 ounce of a drink can vary. For example, there are 2.4 to 2.8 grams of alcohol in an ounce of wine, but there are 1 to 1.2 grams of alcohol per ounce of beer.) 
 
 But drinking that same amount was associated with an approximately 1.5 times greater risk of colorectal, liver or breast cancer, compared with not drinking, according to the article. 
 
 Connor noted that the exact mechanism for how alcohol causes cancer is not well-understood, and indeed, it may be different depending on where in the body the cancer occurs. [6 Foods That May Affect Breast Cancer Risk] 
 
 For example, scientists believe that a compound that forms when alcohol breaks down is responsible for the development of cancers of the mouth, throat, esophagus and liver. The compound, acetaldehyde, is formed when alcohol is digested by saliva or by molecules in the liver. Acetaldehyde comes in direct contact with the tissues of the mouth, throat, esophagus and liver, and can damage the DNA in the cells of these tissues, which can lead to cancer. 
 
 But for breast cancer, alcohol may cause cancer by increasing levels of estrogen in the body; the hormone has been linked to the disease, according to the article. 
 
 Connor noted that there are limitations to the research. In particular, many of the studies included in the analysis relied on people self-reporting how much alcohol they had drank. It is not uncommon for people to say they drank less alcohol than they actually drank, Connor wrote. 
 
 Editor's Note: This story was updated on July 25. The original story referred to the Connor's article as a "meta-analysis," the story was corrected to state that the article was a review, and an opinion article. 
 
 Originally published on Live Science.
– Health experts are calling for warning labels on booze, like those on tobacco products, based on a new study that finds alcohol is a direct cause of at least seven forms of cancer. Drink only a little? You're still at risk, scientists write in the journal Addiction. After reviewing 10 years' worth of data from agencies including the World Cancer Research Fund, researchers conclude drinking is a direct cause of not just liver cancer, but also cancer of the colon, rectum, breast, oropharynx, larynx, and esophagus, reports the Guardian. "The highest risks are associated with the heaviest drinking but a considerable burden is experienced by drinkers with low to moderate consumption," says study author Jennie Connor. She tells the Telegraph there's actually no safe level of drinking in reference to cancer. As CNET puts it, "you booze, you lose." Drinking 50 grams of alcohol per day—about 2.6 beers or roughly three 6-ounce glasses of wine—results in a four to seven times greater risk of cancer in the oropharynx, larynx, and esophagus, and a 1.5 times greater risk of the others, compared to consuming no alcohol at all, reports Live Science. Alcohol may also cause skin, prostate, and pancreatic cancer, says Connor, adding the purported benefits of alcohol are "seen increasingly as ... irrelevant in comparison to the increase in risk of a range of cancers." Scientists aren't sure how alcohol causes cancer, but acetaldehyde—the compound formed when alcohol breaks down—damages the DNA of cells in the mouth, throat, esophagus, and liver. The good news: Those who stopped drinking reduced their risk of cancer in the larynx, throat, and liver, with the risk continuing to fall the longer they steered clear of booze. (Good thing we're drinking less.)