London - For those who enjoy a tipple, the glass is both half full and half empty, it seems.
Adult drinkers are up to 24 percent less likely to suffer a heart attack than teetotallers, research reveals.
However, they are at far more at risk of developing cancer. And they are also at greater danger of seriously injuring themselves.
Those who exceed the safe drinking levels of 14 units a week for a woman and 21 units for a man are more likely to die early, the Lancet study found.
Overall, there are no benefits to drinking even modest amounts, Canadian researchers say. They urged health officials to help adults cut back.
Their study looked at 114 970 men and women from 12 countries including Sweden, Canada, Argentina, Brazil, India and Turkey, but not the UK.
They used the term “current drinker” as a broad description covering both adults who had alcohol only once or twice a week and those who had several glasses of wine a night.
Researchers tracked the adults for three years and found that current drinkers were 24 percent less likely to have suffered a heart attack over that time than those who did not drink alcohol at all.
But they were 51 percent more at risk of developing cancers – including breast, ovary, liver and stomach – and had a 29 percent chance of injuring themselves, through falls, for example.
When the researchers examined the data more closely, they found adults with a “high intake” of alcohol – above the recommended weekly limits – were 30 percent more likely to die early.
They concluded that alcohol did not give any long-term benefits. “Our study shows that current drinking is not associated with a net health benefit,” they said. Dr Andrew Smyth, of the Population Health Research Institute at McMaster University, in Ontario, added: “Our data support the call to increase global awareness of the importance of harmful use of alcohol and the need to further identify and target the modifiable determinants of harmful alcohol use.”
Other experts said the findings that drinkers had a lower risk of heart attack should be treated with caution as there may be underlying factors – adults who enjoy a drink tend to be more comfortably off and in better health than teetotallers, who include reformed alcoholics.
Some experts say the public should be clearly told there is no safe level of alcohol and drinking only a modest amount still carries a risk.
Professor Sir Ian Gilmore, chairperson of the Alcohol Health Alliance, said: “This international study confirms our present understanding in the UK, namely even moderate alcohol consumption increases the risk of common cancers without conferring protection against heart deaths.
“It is extremely concerning that alcohol-related cancers are on the rise and our surveys show that the public are not aware of the risks they face.”
Daily Mail