Study: Drinking a bottle of wine per week is as bad as smoking 5-10 cigarettes

(FOX 5 DC) - Downing a bottle of wine each week is as cancer-causing as smoking five to 10 cigarettes a week, according to British researchers.

In a study published late March in the journal BMC Public Health, researchers discovered drinking a weekly bottle of wine is on the same level as smoking five cigarettes for men and 10 cigarettes for women.

"Gender differences result from levels of moderate drinking leading to a 0.8% absolute risk of breast cancer in female non-smokers."

The study went on to say "cigarette equivalences" were used as means to raise public awareness of the cancer risk of alcohol.

In conclusion BMC Public Health noted:

"These findings highlight moderate levels of drinking as an important public health issue for women and identify a need to promote national awareness, supported by the recent change in national drinking guidelines. This study offers the first attempt to use well established and well communicated links between cancer and tobacco as a mechanism to explain similar links between alcohol and cancer which have to date failed to reach most of the public."