A study published in the Annals of Oncology claims just one glass a day is enough to increase the risk of breast cancer by five per cent. The link between breast cancer and alcohol is already known but it wasn't clarified if there was an the increased risk with low levels of consumption or a 'safe' threshold, below which there was no effect on breast cancer.

As reported in the Daily Mail, the research pooled data from a number of previous studies, involving more than 150,000 people. The research team compared the effects between those who consumed up to one typical drink of alcohol a day with ‘non-drinkers’ in terms of relative risks for a number of types of cancer.

The researchers concluded there were detectable increases in cancer cases involving the mouth, throat, gullet and breast. Light drinking was believed to have caused 24,000 deaths from oesophageal cancer, 5,000 from oral and 5,000 from breast cancer worldwide.

However, the researchers did not adjust their estimates for the participant's other lifestyle habits such as smoking, which could have affected the results. And they failed to include results from previous studies that have linked to light drinking to health benefits such as the significant reduction in the risk of common diseases and a longer lifespan.