LONDON, England (AP) — Drinking too much alcohol might account for as much as ten per cent of cancer cases in men and three per cent in women in Europe, according to results of a new study published Thursday.

Too much alcohol might also be responsible for almost 45 per cent of cancers in the mouth, larynx and throat in men and 25 per cent of those cancers in women, according to the results published Thursday in a medical journal, BMJ.

“A considerable proportion of the most common and most lethal cancers is attributable to former and current alcohol consumption,” wrote Manuela Bergmann of the Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbruecke in Nuthetal, Germany and colleagues. The research was paid for by numerous European health agencies.

The results are based on a study carried out between 1992 and 2005, when experts followed more than 100,000 men and 250,000 women aged 37 to 70 in Britain, France, Italy, Spain, Greece, Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark from 1992 to 2005.

They asked people to report how much alcohol they regularly drink and consumed before and then compared it with figures for cancer cases through national registries and other sources.

Using mathematical models that accounted for complications like whether or not the participants smoked or were overweight, their diet and exercise habits, among other factors, the scientists then calculated the number of cancers probably due to drinking too much alcohol.

European and American guidelines recommend men have no more than two drinks a day (or about 24 grams of alcohol) and that women have no more than one drink a day (about 12 grams of alcohol).

A previous study found that alcohol is responsible for about 400,000 cancer cases worldwide every year. The American Cancer Society estimates that three per cent of all cancer deaths in the US are linked to alcohol.

Scientists aren’t sure how alcohol may trigger cancer, but suspect it has something to do with what happens to alcohol once it’s digested in the body. Alcohol gets converted into a chemical that can damage DNA and prevent cells from being able to repair themselves.

Too much drinking was also blamed for seven per cent of breast cancers in German women and 28 per cent of colorectal cancers in Spanish men, the results show.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer lists alcohol as a known carcinogen for cancers including those of the mouth, throat, voicebox, esophagus, liver, breast and colon.

Naomi Allen, an epidemiologist at British charity Cancer Research UK, warned that there could be a spike of alcohol-related cancers in the future. “The results from this study reflect the impact of people’s drinking habits about 10 years ago,” she said in a statement. “People are drinking even more now… and this could lead to more people developing cancer because of alcohol.”

“If you drink alcohol, stick to safe limits,” the charity advises on its website. “By cutting down on what you drink, you can reduce your risk of several cancers.”