A report by the British Medical Council (BMC) that links alcohol with cancer and compares smoking with drinking is “misguided and misleading”, says UKHospitality.
The report, called “A comparison of gender-linked population cancer risks between alcohol and tobacco: how many cigarettes are there in a bottle of wine?”, was published on Thursday (28 March).
Says the study, “One bottle of wine per week is associated with an increased absolute lifetime risk of alcohol-related cancers in women, driven by breast cancer, equivalent to the increased absolute cancer risk associated with ten cigarettes per week. These findings can help communicate that moderate levels of drinking are an important public health risk for women. The risks for men, equivalent to five cigarettes per week, are also of note.”
However, UKHospitality chief executive Kate Nicholls has responded by saying, “While this study will drive some headlines in the popular press, it is entirely misguided and misleading and we believe the BMC should and must do better. All studies agree there is an immediate health risk from smoking, whereas studies show this isn’t the case with drinking alcohol. Indeed, moderate drinking can benefit well-being so to try to compare the two in this way is wrong.
” This is about communicating a potential increase in risk and this study confuses rather than clarifies. The 4% of the population drinking at harmful levels needs addressing but latest research is more positive, showing a third of UK adults are drinking less than they were as little as six months ago. This is across the board, including young adults, middle-aged consumers and older drinkers, with health given as the number one reason – so the public health message is clearly working.”
