Cancer Study: Are you aware of the cancer risks of drinking too much alcohol?

A recent study shows alcohol consumption can cause cancer. (iStock Photo)

By CBC News

Drinking too much alcohol is blamed for a "considerable proportion" of cancer cases, a new European study claims. 

The study, which appears in the current issue of medical journal BMJ, says current or former alcohol consumption can be blamed for as much as 10 per cent of cancer cases in men and three per cent in women.

The conclusions were based on following more than 100,000 men and 250,000 women aged 37 to 70 in Britain, France, Italy, Spain, Greece, Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark from 1992 to 2005.

"A considerable proportion of the most common and most lethal cancers is attributable to former and current alcohol consumption," wrote lead author Manuela Bergmann of the Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbruecke in Nuthetal, Germany.

"It's a citizen's right-to-know issue," said Prof. Tim Stockwell of the University of Victoria's Centre for Addictions Research."I think it's scandalous that vested interest groups have persuaded governments that it's not necessary to inform consumers about the risks of things like cancer from this product that most of us use and love."

The Canadian Cancer Society acknowledged that cancer risks of drinking have received little attention.

Read more.

Do you think there should be warning labels on alcoholic beverages regarding the health risks? Why or why not? Would this report impact the amount of alcohol you consume? Why or why not? Please post comments below.


(This survey is not scientific. The results are based on responses' of readers)