Healthcare officials in the United Kingdom have said that drinking alcohol regularly increases the risk of cancer.

The healthcare authorities have issued a strict guideline, which will be received with much difficulty as alcohol is a very normal part of British life. Chief medical officers of the country wrote in recommendations that men and women should not drink more than 14 units of alcohol, which is about six pints of beer or four large glasses of wine, during one week.

The new guidelines for alcohol consumptionpublished on Friday by chief medical officers pointed out that any level of alcohol causes some risk.The evidence from the Committee on Carcinogenicity (COC) is against the commonly help belief that a glass of wine have medical benefits for both men and women.It was also pointed out that consuming below that level also causes low risk of liver disease or cancer.

Sally Davies, the chief medical officer for England have defended the new guidelines. Some critics described the new guidelines as of 'scare mongering' the public with advice that goes ''too far''.

Davies said, “Drinking any level of alcohol regularly carries a health risk for anyone, but if men and women limit their intake to no more than 14 units a week it keeps the risk of illness like cancer and liver disease low. Previous guidelines recommended no more than 21 units for men and 14 for women.”