'One alcoholic drink per day can raise cancer risk'

New drinking advice suggests no more than 14 units a week

Rex

8 January 2016

There is no such thing as a safe level of alcohol consumption, official health advisors warned today.

New advice from the UK’s chief medical officers states that just one drink a day could increase the risk of cancer and other health issues.

It is now recommended that men and women who drink regularly should consume no more than 14 units a week, which is the equivalent to 6 pints of beer or seven glasses of wine.

Drinkers have also been told to take a break with several booze free days a week.

Today’s announcement is the first full review of drinking guidance in the UK since 1985.

The new advice is a sharp reduction on the old guidelines that suggested men should drink no more than three to four units a day and women two to three, with a 48-hour break after heavy drinking sessions.

Critics have hit out against the new advice calling it scaremongering.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">Alcohol will be treated like tobacco soon. Hopefully my liver will have given out by then. <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/alcoholguidelines?src=hash" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-3151481-https://twitter.com/hashtag/alcoholguidelines?src=hash" data-vars-event-id="c23">#alcoholguidelines</a> — Nick Dearden (@nickdearden75) <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/nickdearden75/status/685384203698106369" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-3151481-https://twitter.com/nickdearden75/status/685384203698106369" data-vars-event-id="c23">January 8, 2016</a>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">New <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/alcoholguidelines?src=hash" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-3151481-https://twitter.com/hashtag/alcoholguidelines?src=hash" data-vars-event-id="c23">#alcoholguidelines</a> are a joke. If there's no 'safe level', there are only two choices: carry on or drink nothing. The former it is then! — Gavin Plumley (@gavinplumley) <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/gavinplumley/status/685379083518275584" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-3151481-https://twitter.com/gavinplumley/status/685379083518275584" data-vars-event-id="c23">January 8, 2016</a>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">New alcohol guidelines... Something else for me to not enforce. — Lolo Mint (@alicevsoven) <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/alicevsoven/status/685378955751370752" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-3151481-https://twitter.com/alicevsoven/status/685378955751370752" data-vars-event-id="c23">January 8, 2016</a>

The new guidance also cast doubt on previous claims that red wine helps protect against heart disease. Some studies have suggested low-level drinking could protect men from heart disease but the guidance says this is no longer the case.

Another major factor in the findings is the evidence that has been found in terms of alcohol increasing the risk of cancer. It suggests the risk of a range of cancers, such as mouth, throat and breast, increases with any amount you drink on a regular basis.

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