HEALTH NEWS

Warning over long-term drinking link to common cancers

 Alcohol consumption causes more than 5000 cases of cancer in Australia each year - more than half of them breast cancer, new figures show.

A Cancer Council analysis reveals the number of cancer cases caused by long-term drinking in Australia is far higher than previously thought, following strong international evidence of its link to a broader range of cancer types.

Council chief executive Professor Ian Olver said: ''Alcohol has always been associated with less common malignancies like liver and - in conjunction with smoking - head and neck.

''But evidence of its association with common [cancers] like breast and bowel makes the population impact far greater.''

The analysis, published yesterday in The Medical Journal of Australia, shows that more than 2600 - or one in five - new cases of breast cancer in Australia are caused by drinking.

Alcohol caused almost 1300 cancers of the mouth, pharynx and larynx (41 per cent) and almost 600 cancers of the oesophagus (51 per cent).

It is also responsible for 500 bowel cancers in men (7 per cent), and is probably the cause of 400 bowel cancers in women (7 per cent).

Overall, researchers attribute 5 per cent of cancers to long-term alcohol consumption.

Professor Olver said the new evidence of its link to a broader range of cancers made alcohol ''one of the most carcinogenic products in common use''.

Cancer Council guidelines state there is no safe level of alcohol consumption, and abstaining altogether is the only way to eliminate the risk of developing certain cancers.

Professor Olver said the risk was small for up to a couple of drinks a day but people needed to be aware that not drinking at all could further reduce their risk, particularly if they had other risk factors such as family history.

Nina Tovey, 31, chose to stop drinking alcohol after her mother Jan Rinella, 59, was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Mrs Rinella had a mastectomy in 2005 and recently celebrated five years of being cancer-free.

But Ms Tovey said cancer ''never feels too far away when you've had such a big shock'' and her mother's diagnosis spurred her into action.

''I was taken aback to find that one small glass of wine a day increases the risk of breast cancer,'' she said.

Research shows that only 9 per cent of Victorians are aware of the link between alcohol consumption and cancer risk, which new television advertisements aim to highlight.