Women who drink a bottle of wine a week are at the same risk of cancer as those smoking 10 cigarettes a week, a new report warns.
The research was carried out by Bangor University , the University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Southampton.
It also found the same amount of alcohol for men had the same cancer risks as five cigarettes per week.
Scientists say hope the study will make it easier to understand the risks of drinking alcohol.
Professor Mark Bellis, one of the report authors, said: "For many years clear health messages on every advert for cigarettes and every packet sold made the public aware that they are a major cause of cancer.
"We are yet to see any equivalent for alcohol, so most people drink with little or no knowledge about its cancer-causing effects.
"Many people may be surprised that a woman drinking about half a bottle of wine each night carries a similar cancer risk to one with a smoking habit of more than 20 cigarettes per week.
"We hope that by expressing the risks of cancer from alcohol in terms of cigarettes smoked this will act as a simple but effective method to make sure people are better informed about the cancer risks associated with the drinks they are sold."
The study also said that drinking three bottles of wine per week was associated with an increase of absolute lifetime cancer risk to 1.9% in men and 3.6% in women, or 19 in 1,000 men and 36 in 1,000 women, respectively.
This was equivalent to smoking roughly eight cigarettes per week for men and 23 cigarettes per week for women.
In men, this risk appears to be associated primarily with cancers of the gastrointestinal tract, whereas in women 55% of cases appear to be associated with breast cancer.
Dr Theresa Hydes, another author of the report, said: "It is well established that heavy drinking is linked to cancer of the mouth, throat, voice box, gullet, bowel, liver and breast."
