Women who have just one alcoholic drink each day increase their risk of cancer, according to a new study. Researchers found that consuming just one drink a day causes an extra 7,000 cancer cases in women in the UK each year.

Each extra drink per day increased the risk of breast, rectal and liver cancer, University of Oxford researchers reported Tuesday in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The type of alcohol didn't matter. Also, moderate drinkers actually had a lower risk of thyroid cancer, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and renal cell cancer.

At the same time, among women, high calcium intake was associated with a reduced overall cancer risk. This was an observational study in which researchers reviewed dietary profiles for possible links to cancer; the report was published on Monday in The Archives of Internal Medicine.
"In both men and women, dairy food and calcium intakes were inversely associated with cancers of the digestive system," the authors of the study in the Archives of Internal Medicine wrote.

Scientist Yikyung Park and his colleagues based their results on data gathered from 293,907 men and 198,903 women, aged between 50 and 71, who participated in the National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health Study.

The U.S. Institute of Medicine recommends a daily calcium intake of 1,200 milligrams for adults 50 and over. This would be about the equivalent of three cups of milk or other dairy products a day. Green, leafy vegetables are also a good source of calcium.