Can Beer Cause Cancer?

Recently British scientists have forwarded the fact that beer can cause cancer in both males and females with equal frequency.

Alarming news for the beer drinkers is that consuming four units of beer annually can double your risk of throat and mouth cancer in males whereas in females drinking three units of beer can enhance the threat of breast cancer by almost 25 percent.

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Professor Sir Ian Gilmore, the chairman of the Alcohol Health Alliance, mentioned that beer drinkers lack the knowledge of the direct association of beer with cancer.

Prof Peter Anderson from Newcastle University conducted a study to assess the effects of beer intake. The study was funded by Alcohol Public Health Research Alliance (AMPHORA), an EU-funded body of 30 universities and other scientific institutes.

Prof Anderson stated, “Ethanol and acetaldehyde, toxins and carcinogens associated with alcohol, were more potent than current safety guidelines acknowledge. The European Food Safety Authority has never assessed alcoholic drinks for safe exposure levels to carcinogens.”

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According to the UK government data, around 4500 Britons die every year due to alcohol-associated cancer such as rectum, oesophagus and breast.

The experts discovered that the alcohol maximum dosage was 20g which was comparable to one drink every six monthly.

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Prof Gilmore advocated, “It underlines the link between cancer and alcohol and the fact that for breast cancer, for instance, there is a significantly increased risk even in those women who drink within government guidelines.”

According to the Department of Health, there was no substantial evidence showing the inter-relationship of beer intake and prevalence of cancer. Therefore they will not commence any statutory warnings.

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The European Commission firmly said, “We will not be making any proposals based on the AMPHORA project’s conclusions.”

In another study the experts have noticed that women drinking one standard alcohol drink per day were exposed to the threat of developing cancer of breast.

It was discovered that alcohol intake can lead to the occurrence of cancers of pharynx, liver, rectum, colon and oral cavity in both males and females and is also a leading cause of breast cancer among women.

The scientists finally said, "Three people in Ireland die from oral and pharyngeal cancer (OPC) every week - which is more than skin melanoma or cervical cancer. On average, Irish alcohol drinkers consume about 37g of alcohol a day."

Source-Medindia