Alcohol is directly linked to seven forms of cancer, a new study has established.

People consuming even small to moderate amounts of alcohol are at risk, according to the new study, published on Addiction Journal.

The evidence from the study supports a causal association between alcohol consumption and cancers in seven areas in the body: liver, colon, rectum, female breast and different parts of the mouth and throat, oropharynx, larynx and oesophagus.

Causal association means there is evidence that alcohol consumption directly causes cancer, not just a relationship of some kind between the variables.

The study shows that the risk of cancer can be decreased by reducing the consumption of alcohol.

“The highest risks are associated with the heaviest drinking but a considerable burden is experienced by drinkers with low to moderate consumption, due to the distribution of drinking in the population,” Jennie Connor, of the preventive and social medicine department at Otago University in New Zealand told the Guardian.

Alcohol caused approximately half a million deaths from cancer in 2012, which is almost 8 per cent of cancer deaths worldwide. The highest risk are linked with heavy drinking but considerable association between low to moderate alcohol consumption to cancer is shown in the study.

The review also finds the current evidence that moderate drinking provides protection against cardiovascular disease is not strong.