Quit alcohol to reduce mouth cancer risk
Reported May 09, 2008
The Mouth Cancer Foundation is calling for a reduction in the current daily alcohol intake safety guidelines.
It follows the worldwide report which concludes that men and women who drink just two glasses of alcohol a day increase the risk of developing mouth cancer by 75%.
The report Alcohol as a Cause of Cancer* from the Cancer Institute of New South Wales, Australia, casts doubt on current drinking guidelines.
It also found that women drinking just two standard drinks per day increases their risk of developing breast cancer by 22%, while four drinks a day increases a man’s risk of developing bowel cancer by 64%.
The Department of Health’s current advice is that men should not regularly drink more than 3-4 units of alcohol per day, and women should not regularly drink more than 2-3 units of alcohol per day.
Founder of the Mouth Cancer Foundation, Dr Vinod Joshi says:’In view of this latest report the current alcohol guidelines that we’ve got are actually very high.
‘To reduce the risk of mouth cancer risk, the Mouth Cancer Foundation recommends that people should limit or avoid their alcohol altogether.’
For men, the Mouth Cancer Foundation recommends no more than two standard drinks a day and for women no more than one standard drink a day.
The evidence about alcohol and the link to cancer is growing and people should be more aware of the risks and reduce their alcohol consumption.
The report came about in a bid to explain the increasing levels of cancer in society.
The international research suggests that there are no safe levels of alcohol consumption.