When it comes to alcohol consumption, there is no safe amount that does not affect health, says a new WHO statement.
Alcohol causes at least seven types of cancer. (Photo courtesy: Getty Images)
By Sneha Mordani: The World Health Organisation (WHO) in its latest assessment has warned that there is no safe amount of alcohol that does not affect health. The global health body in a statement in The Lancet Public Health has said that the risk of developing cancer increases substantially the more alcohol is consumed and that 200 million people are at risk of developing alcohol-attributable cancer in Europe.
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It noted that the latest data analysis revealed that half of all alcohol-attributable cancers in the WHO European Region are caused by “light” and “moderate” alcohol consumption – less than 1.5 litres of wine or less than 3.5 litres of beer or less than 450 millilitres of spirits per week.
"Alcohol causes at least seven types of cancer, including the most common cancer types, such as bowel cancer and female breast cancer. Ethanol (alcohol) causes cancer through biological mechanisms as the compound breaks down in the body, which means that any beverage containing alcohol, regardless of its price and quality, poses a risk of developing cancer," WHO said.
The health body maintained that to identify a “safe” level of alcohol consumption, valid scientific evidence would need to demonstrate that at and below a certain level, there is no risk of illness or injury associated with alcohol consumption. The statement further clarifies that currently available evidence cannot indicate the existence of a threshold at which the carcinogenic effects of alcohol “switch on” and start to manifest in the human body.
“We cannot talk about a so-called safe level of alcohol use. It doesn’t matter how much you drink – the risk to the drinker’s health starts from the first drop of any alcoholic beverage. The only thing that we can say for sure is that the more you drink, the more harmful it is – or, in other words, the less you drink, the safer it is," Dr Carina Ferreira-Borges, acting Unit Lead for Noncommunicable Disease Management and Regional Advisor for Alcohol and Illicit Drugs in the WHO Regional Office for Europe, said in a statement.
WHO noted that, globally, European Region has the highest alcohol consumption level and the highest proportion of drinkers in the population with over 200 million people at risk of developing alcohol-attributable cancer.
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No amount of alcohol is safe, 200 million Europeans at risk of developing cancer: WHO - India Today
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