Researchers said the cancer risks from alcohol were not widely understood, and they hoped the comparisons would help people to make "more informed" lifestyle choices.Image / Getty Images
Researchers said the cancer risks from alcohol were not widely understood, and they hoped the comparisons would help people to make "more informed" lifestyle choices.Image / Getty Images
Drinking a bottle of wine increases women's cancer risk as much as smoking 10 cigarettes, research suggests.
The British study says that for men, drinking a bottle of wine a week increases the absolute lifetime risk of cancer equivalent to smoking five cigarettes weekly.
This is due to the riskof cancer in parts of the body such as the bowel, liver and oesophagus.
For women, it has a similar impact to 10 cigarettes a week, mostly due to an increased risk of breast cancer caused by alcohol, researchers from the University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, Bangor University and University of Southampton found.
The team estimated that if 1000 non-smoking men and 1000 non-smoking women each drank one bottle of wine per week across their lifetime, around 10 men and 14 women would develop cancer as a result.
And if 1000 men and 1000 women drank three bottles of wine per week throughout their lives, around 19 men and 36 women could develop cancer as a result, the study in BMC Public Health found.
The researchers said the cancer risks from alcohol were not widely understood, and they hoped the comparisons would help people to make "more informed" lifestyle choices.
The study, BMC Public Health, found that in terms of absolute risk, the researchers said one bottle of wine per week is associated with an increased absolute lifetime cancer risk for non-smokers of 1 per cent in men and 1.4 per cent in women.
Jane Green, professor of epidemiology and co-director of the cancer epidemiology unit at the University of Oxford, said: "It is important to view these results in context.
"For both men and women in the UK, the lifetime risk of cancer is around 50 per cent.
"The authors estimate that lifetime risk is around 1 per cent higher for men and women who drink a bottle of wine a week, or who smoke five to 10 cigarettes a week, than for those who neither smoke nor drink.
"The average UK drinker reports drinking the equivalent of about a bottle-and-a-half of wine a week, and the average smoker smokes about 10 cigarettes a day, or 70 a week.
"This work confirms that, for most smokers, their smoking carries much greater risks for cancer than does alcohol for most drinkers."
For women, a bottle of wine a week has a similar impact to 10 cigarettes a week, mostly due to an increased risk of breast cancer caused by alcohol. Image / Getty Images
Cutting cancer risks | 10 recommendations
1. Be a healthy weight. Keep your weight within the healthy range and avoid weight gain in adult life
2. Be physically active. Be physically active as part of everyday life – walk more and sit less
3. Eat a diet rich in wholegrains, vegetables, fruit and beans. Make wholegrains, vegetables, fruit, and pulses (legumes) such as beans and lentils a major part of your usual daily diet
4. Limit consumption of 'fast foods' and other processed foods high in fat, starches or sugars. Limiting these foods helps control calorie intake and maintain a healthy weight
5. Limit consumption of red and processed meat. Eat no more than moderate amounts of red meat, such as beef, pork and lamb. Eat little, if any, processed meat
