Many of us won’t think twice about drinking a bottle of wine each week – but we wouldn’t dream of smoking 10 cigarettes. Now, research suggests the habits could be equally unhealthy.
For women, drinking a weekly bottle of our favourite vino increases the lifetime risk of cancer to the same extent as smoking 10 cigarettes per week, according to the study, mostly due to an increased risk of breast cancer.
For men, drinking a bottle of wine a week increases the risk of cancer equivalent to smoking five cigarettes, the researchers said. This is due to the risk of cancer in parts of the body such as the bowel, liver and oesophagus.
Chief medical officer, Professor Dame Sally Davies, has suggested women should “think about breast cancer” whenever they reach for a glass of wine. Cheery.
The researchers – from the University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, Bangor University and University of Southampton – estimated that if 1,000 non-smoking men and 1,000 non-smoking women each drank one bottle of wine per week across their lifetime, around 10 men and 14 women could develop cancer as a result.
And if 1,000 men and 1,000 women drank three bottles of wine per week throughout their lives (roughly half a bottle each night), around 19 men and 36 women could develop cancer as a result.
They found three bottles a week is equivalent to smoking about eight cigarettes per week for men and 23 cigarettes per week for women.
Writing in the journal BMC Public Health, the team said alcohol is generally perceived by the public as being “far less harmful” than smoking, despite being directly linked to several different types of cancer.
Although the study might make you think twice about reaching for a bevvy, the researchers pointed out smoking still poses a far bigger cancer risk than moderate drinking, due to the amount of cigarettes smokers tend to get through.
“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,” said Jane Green, professor of epidemiology and co-director of the cancer epidemiology unit at the University of Oxford. “For both men and women in the UK, the lifetime risk of cancer is around 50%.
“The authors estimate that lifetime cancer risk is around 1% 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.”
Green said this research confirms that, for most smokers, their smoking carries “much greater” risks for cancer than alcohol does for most drinkers.