By drinking one alcoholic drink per day, women could be increasing their risks of cancer, according to a seven-year study conducted by researchers at the University of Oxford. The million-woman study showed low-alcohol consumption could account for almost 13 percent of breast, liver, rectum and upper aero-digestive tract cancer in middle-aged women. “[We’ve] just started to realize how toxic alcohol is,” said Kathy Saichuck, Wellness Education coordinator at the Student Health Center.Naomi Allen, lead researcher, conducted the study, “Moderate Alcohol Intake and Cancer Incidence in Women,” in the United Kingdom. After more than seven years, 68,775 women had developed invasive cancer after consuming fewer than 21 drinks per week and an average of one per day. “Consuming alcohol has risks to it,” Saichuk said. “[Women] don’t process alcohol as well as men.” Women have about 10 percent less water in the body than men, allowing the break down of alcohol to happen slower, she said. Women also have less enzymes in the stomach, which break down the contents there, Saichuck said.Because of the lower level of enzymes, women have greater toxic levels of alcohol in their systems — which leads to more health problems, Saichuck said.The study focused specifically on the health risks of one alcoholic drink per day. Consuming larger levels of alcohol can be dangerous for both men and women, she said.  The study also showed for every additional drink consumed in a day, the estimated health risk was 11 cases of breast cancer for every 1,000 women and a total of about 15 cases of cancer per 1,000 women. The bigger the population of a study, the more credible it becomes, said Judith Myhand, human ecology professor. The study was also peer-reviewed, which gives it more reliability. A woman’s genetic makeup affects how alcoholic consumption affects her, Saichuk said. Some women have greater chances of developing cancer because of hereditary factors, she said. The study did not show what affects alcohol has on younger women. “We’ll have to keep watching to see if younger women would have risks from cancer,” Myhand said. “This should be an alert to all women to reduce their alcohol consumption.” The study is alarming because the results show risks for moderate drinking that doesn’t account for binge drinking, she said. College-aged women don’t usually drink moderately, she said. The study counter-argues the idea that one glass of wine per day decreases the risk of heart disease. Some studies have shown a moderate amount of wine can reduce the risks of heart disease, Myhand said. Any of the benefits would be outweighed by the health risks from the new information in the study, she said.One type of drink does not seem to be more harmful than another kind, Myhand said, but a drink can be more harmful if consumed quickly. “[Sometimes they] don’t realize what the affects are going to be until later,” she said. – – – -Contact Joy Lukachick at [email protected]