饮酒是欧洲的主流文化，在英国，下班后酒吧里会人满为患。
然而科研人员提醒说，如果每天饮啤酒超过一个品脱（约0.57升），就可能大大增加患癌症的几率。
英国医学杂志（British Medical Journal）发表的这份研究报告说，欧洲10%的男性癌症患者都与酒精摄入有关，女性癌症患者中的这一比例为1：33。
如果看酒精导致的癌症病例，这一比例就更高，1/3的男性患者和1/20的女性患者都与饮酒过量有关。
科研人员对欧洲八国的36万多人进行调查后得出这一结论，英国卫生部表示将于夏季发表一份新的引导消费者健康饮酒的指南。
损伤DNA
英国目前的饮酒标准是男性每天不超过三至四个单位的酒精含量（即约30-40毫升），女性每天不超过两至三个单位。这一标准较新发表的研究报告的建议略为宽松。
一瓶葡萄酒的酒精含量约为7-9个单位，而一品脱啤酒的酒精含量约为2.3个单位。
科学家们说，酒精进入体内后释放出的化学物质会损伤DNA，从而增加癌症患病率。
慈善组织英国癌症研究的健康主任萨拉·休姆（Sara Hiom）说，很多人并不知道饮酒会增加癌症患病率。
“过去十年，口腔癌越来越普遍，其中的一个原因就是饮酒过量。除了戒烟、保持健康体重外，减少饮酒也是降低癌症患病率的重要途径。”
Many people do not know that drinking alcohol can increase their cancer risk.
Drinking more than a pint of beer a day can substantially increase the risk of some cancers, research suggests.
The Europe-wide study of 363,988 people reported in the British Medical Journal found one in 10 of all cancers in men and one in 33 in women were caused by past or current alcohol intake.
More than 18% of alcohol-related cancers in men and about 4% in women were linked to excessive drinking.
The Department of Health said it was taking action to reduce drinking.
Cancer charities say people should limit their drinking to lower the risk.
The study calculated that in 2008 current and past drinking habits were responsible for about 13,000 cancer cases in the UK, out of a total of 304,000 cases.
Previous research has shown a link between alcohol consumption and cancers of the oesophagus, liver, bowel and female breast.
When alcohol is broken down by the body it produces a chemical which can damage DNA, increasing the chance of developing cancer.
Glass too far
The latest research found that individuals who drank more than two standard drinks a day for men and one drink a day for women were particularly at risk of alcohol-related cancers
Dr Kat Arney, Cancer Research UK: "The more you drink, the greater the risk"
A standard drink contains about 12g of alcohol, which is equivalent to a 125ml glass of wine or a half pint of beer.
Yet NHS guidelines are a little more relaxed, saying that men should drink no more than three to four units a day while women should not go above two to three units a day.
Of the cancers known to be linked to alcohol, the researchers suggest that 40% to 98% occurred in people who drank more than the recommended maximum.
The results were gathered as part of a study following 363,988 men and women in eight European countries aged between 35 and 70.
The European Prospective Investigation into Cancer study tracked their levels of drinking and how this affected their risk of cancer.
Researchers then looked at figures on how much people drank in each country, including the UK, taken from the World Health Organization.
The study focused on France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Greece, Germany, Denmark and the UK.
Madlen Schutze, lead researcher and study author, from the German Institute of Human Nutrition, said that many cancer cases could be avoided if alcohol consumption was limited.
"And even more cancer cases would be prevented if people reduced their alcohol intake to below recommended guidelines or stopped drinking alcohol at all," she said.
Best data
Cancer Research UK director of health information Sara Hiom said that many people did not know that drinking alcohol could increase their cancer risk.
I think there will have to be some form of tougher regulation by government”
End Quote Professor Sir Ian Gilmore UK Alcohol Health Alliance
"In the last 10 years, mouth cancer has become much more common and one reason for this could be because of higher levels of drinking - as this study reflects.
"Along with being a non-smoker and keeping a healthy bodyweight, cutting back on alcohol is one of the most important ways of lowering your cancer risk."
Cancer Partners UK medical director Prof Karol Sikora said the message had to be "drink occasionally, but not regularly".
"This is the best data weve got and were ever likely to get.
"The take-home message is that the more alcohol you drink, some of the common cancers - the four cancers that have been identified - do increase, and thats worrying. So the message has to belook at drinking habits, and reduce."
The Department of Health is set to publish an alcohol strategy in the summer.
Professor Sir Ian Gilmore, former president of the Royal College of Physicians and chairman of the UK Alcohol Health Alliance, called for tougher regulation to curb alcohol consumption.
He told the BBC: "It is yet another piece of evidence that really leads us to conclude that sitting back and waiting for people to change their habits, perhaps with voluntary partnerships with the drinks industry included in policies, will not bring about results.
"If we really want to see preventable deaths coming down in the next decade or so, I think there will have to be some form of tougher regulation by government."
It is expected to include plans to stop supermarkets selling cheap alcohol and tighten up licensing laws which were relaxed under the previous government.