Contrary to widespread advice that regular but modest consumption of red wine can help protect against heart attacks, a major European study has found that people who drink wine or beer on daily basis are at a greater risk of bowel cancer than the non-drinkers.

The report, published by the International Journal of Cancer, examined records of 478,732 participants in ten European countries who were free of cancer when they enrolled between 1992 and 2000.

Researchers concluded that drinking two large glasses of wine a day increases the risk of getting bowel cancer compared with non-drinkers. Each year 35,000 people are diagnosed with bowel cancer, out of which 16,100 are killed per year.