We have long been aware of the many and the various health risks brought on by excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages, such as addiction, cirrhosis of the liver, irregular heart beat, high blood pressure, foetal alcohol syndrome and traffic accidents. However, during the past twenty or thirty years, more and more research and epidemiological studies seem to suggest the beneficial effects of moderate drinking, especially as regards cardiovascular conditions.

A recent extensive English study by Allen et al has delivered quite detailed results regarding the influence of alcoholic beverages on cancer. The study involved a total of more than one and a quarter million middle-aged women who volunteered for breast screening in a British breast cancer centre between 1996 and 2001; these women were routinely tracked for the preemption of various kinds of cancer.

The researchers found that even light to moderate consumption of alcohol increased the risk of various cancers, including cancer of the breast, the rectum, the liver, the upper airways and the digestive tracts. The effect for the respiratory and digestive tracts was most marked among female subjects who also smoked.

The report would have it that, for each extra unit regularly consumed each day by women up to the age of 75, cases of breast cancer per thousand women are increased by 11, cancer of the oral cavity and the pharynx by 1, cancer of the rectum likewise by 1, and 0.7 for cancer of the oesophagus, the larynx and the liver. This gives a total of 15 additional cancers for every thousand women.

Interpretation of these results must be tempered by recognition of the various limitations of the study. This study was, after all, limited to female subjects willingly undergoing screening for breast cancer, which may not be an accurate reflection of the total female population. The assessment of consumed alcoholic beverage appears in any case to rely on some sort of questionnaire, rather than on one or another sort of empirical measurement. Besides which, the various socio-economic of the subjects may prove to be a ‘confounder’ whose influence will elude all concerned.

Anyone aspiring to comprehend the all-in influence of alcohol consumption on human health must consequently measure off the advantages - this especially for cardiovascular conditions - against the downside as regards cancer.