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Health See other Health Articles Title: Guidelines miss alcohol's link to cancer, doctor says Ponder this the next time you're at the pub or pouring a glass of Pinot Grigio. Plenty of countries have set limits for how much alcohol you should drink, from 14 pints a week for men in Ireland to half that for women in the United States. Whatever the recommendations, the Canadian Medical Association Journal says those rules aren't enough to prevent cancer. In an analysis released Monday, co-author Dr. Paule Latino-Martel says many nations' guidelines on alcohol consumption must be overhauled because they are only geared toward preventing booze's shortterm effects - such as psychological problems and hospital admissions. Many guidelines are also outof-date, full of holes and, sometimes, biased. Over the past decade and especially during the past five years, however, more and more research has shown that hitting the bottle is linked to cancers of the mouth, throat, esophagus, liver, colon-rectum and breast. "There is no level of alcohol consumption for which cancer risk is null," says Latino-Martel, of the French National Institute for Agricultural Research. "On the whole, alcohol is considered an avoidable risk factor for cancer incidence and, more generally, for the global burden of disease." In Europe, for example, she estimates that 10 per cent of total cancer cases are attributable to drinking in men, and three per cent to drinking in women. She adds that health officials across the globe should be aware of possible legal consequences if they urge patients to start imbibing who do not already. Doctors can suggest sipping red wine in moderation to help stave off cardiovascular disease, for instance, but Latino-Martel cautions that recent research touting those benefits has been fraught with biased methods. "The only recommendation (the World Health Organization) has constantly promoted for alcohol consumers is 'less is better,' " she says. Canada's limits currently recommend "low-risk" - not "no risk" - consumption at nine drinks per week for women and 14 drinks per week for men - or two cocktails a day. One standard drink is considered a can of beer, a five-ounce glass of wine or 1.5 ounces of hard liquor. Health Canada and the Canadian Centre for Substance Abuse are set to release new "low-risk" limits this fall. Read more: www.ottawacitizen.com/hea.../story.html#ixzz1Rs6XygBK
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