COPENHAGEN, Denmark: Only one in five women in Europe are aware that alcohol is a risk factor for breast cancer, a serious health concern in the region, the World Health Organization warned on Friday.
“Only 21 percent of women across 14 European countries were aware of the connection between alcohol consumption and the risk of developing breast cancer,” the WHO’s European branch said in a statement adding that awareness was even lower among men. “Just 10 percent of the men surveyed knew of this link.”
The 14 countries include Austria, Belgium, Estonia, France, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.
WHO Europe includes 53 countries and also includes Central Asia.
In 2022, approximately 600,000 cases of breast cancer were reported in Europe.
The World Health Organization does not provide independent data on how many of these cases were alcohol-related.
But the magazine cited 2020 data from the International Agency for Research on Cancer, which showed that of the 575,917 new cases of breast cancer, 39,248 or about 7 percent, were caused by alcohol.
The role of alcohol as a preventable risk factor for breast cancer is important, WHO said.
According to the report, breast cancer is the leading alcohol-related cancer for women in Europe, accounting for 66% of all alcohol-related cancer cases.
Alcohol consumption affects estrogen levels, which play an important role in the development of many breast cancers.
Authorities have warned that even relatively low levels of alcohol consumption can increase the risk of breast cancer.
More than half of alcohol-related breast cancer cases in Europe are not caused by heavy drinking, and about a third of new cases each year are caused by drinking the equivalent of two glasses of wine a day.
According to the World Health Organization, breast cancer is the second most common cancer, with an estimated 2.3 million cases worldwide by 2022.
