More than two alcoholic drinks a week increases cancer risk, scientists say

The BC Cancer Society says although the safest option is to stop consuming alcohol, you can also lower your risk by having a glass of water between each drink.

The mindset surrounding alcohol has changed rapidly. In the past, it was said that 10 to 15 drinks a week was the limit and in the past few months, that has changed to just two.

Scientists are now saying any more than that can lead to an increased risk of cancer, meaning an alcoholic drink may actually be doing you more harm than good.

A new campaign by BC Cancer is shedding light on those risks.

“Even though I do think that lots of people, lots of British Columbians know that alcohol has some damaging effect on our health, the knowledge that it causes cancer is actually pretty limited in Canada,” said cancer prevention senior scientist Dr. Cheryl Peters.

The public health initiative comes after guidelines released by the Canadian Centre for Substance Use and Addiction at the beginning of the year.

The report recommends Canadians only have one to two drinks per week and any more than that could increase the risk of cancer, heart disease or a stroke.

“For any individual person, it’s really difficult to say this is going to increase your risk by this much. That’s why we are taking this tactic that is if you can reduce, if you are a person that chooses to drink alcohol, cutting back a little bit is a great choice for your health,” Peters said.

BC Cancer says alcohol contributes to 7,000 cancer cases in Canada each year. The agency says the body breaks down the alcohol into other chemicals that can cause inflammation or damage to DNA over time. This prevents the body from repairing the damage properly.