A team of European researchers who tracked about 364,000 people in eight countries found a correlation between overall cancer risk and the amount of alcohol regular drinkers consume on a daily basis (British Medical Journal, April 7, 2011).
France, Italy, Spain, the U.K., the Netherlands, Greece, Germany, and Denmark participated in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study, which tracked 109,118 men and 254,870 women, mainly ages 37 to 70. The research team looked at hazard rate ratios expressing the relative risk of cancer incidence for former and current alcohol consumption among EPIC participants.
"If we assume causality, among men and women, 10% and 3% of the incidence of total cancer was attributable to former and current alcohol consumption in the selected European countries," the study authors wrote.
About 44% of cancers of the upper aerodigestive tract (including the mouth, throat, and esophagus) in men were linked to alcohol, while 25% of these cancers in women were linked to alcohol, they noted.
The recommended limit for daily alcohol consumption is two drinks a day for men (about 0.8 ounces of alcohol) and one for women (about 0.4 ounces of alcohol), the researchers added.
