GLASGOW could be facing a breast cancer time bomb because of the "strong" link between alcohol use and the disease, experts have warned.
A cancer specialist said evidence that just one drink a day can increase the risk of breast cancer by 7% was not promoted widely enough among women.
He said there was now "seriously strong" data showing a link between alcohol - even at low consumption levels - and the disease.
Alcohol problems are worse in Greater Glasgow and Clyde than in the rest of Scotland, the UK or Western Europe.
Around 1800 new cases of breast cancer are diagnosed every year in the west of Scotland.
Professor Peter Boyle, of Strathclyde University's Institute of Global Public Health, said more research was urgently needed into the risks of drinking for women who already have a family risk of the disease.
Asked if those women should be advised not to drink alcohol at all, he said: "It's a question to which no one knows the answer. There is no information available. It is one of the major research gaps."
It is estimated there are 13,650 problem alcohol users in Glasgow city area alone.
More than 57% of women in Scotland exceed the recommended maximum daily amount at some point in the week.
Professor Boyle said: "We have got to be a lot better informed about the link between alcohol consumption and breast cancer. There is now seriously strong data indicating that even moderate alcohol consumption increases the risk of breast cancer."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article