The study by France's National Cancer Institute (INCA) says that consuming just a 125ml glass of wine increases the chance of developing mouth and throat cancer by 168 per cent, Daily Mail reported.

Other cancers are also more likely to strike regular drinkers, the study claimed.

The INCA study warned that 'the consumption of alcohol is associated with an increase in the risk of cancers – mouth, larynx, oesophagus, colon-rectum, and breast cancer.

The findings go against previous research, which has found that the antioxidants in red wine can actually reduce the risk of cancer.

"Small daily doses of alcohol are the most harmful. There is no amount, however small, which is good for you," INCA President Dominique Maraninchi was quoted as saying by the news daily.

"The cause is above all the transformation of ethanol in alcohol to acetaldehyde, which damages DNA in healthy cells. This is particularly likely to happen if alcohol is introduced into the body daily – even in small measures," Maraninchi said.

Official figures show that alcohol is responsible for around 6 per cent – or 9,000 cases – of all cancer deaths in the UK each year, including 5,000 cases of mouth and oesophagus cancer and 2,000 cases of breast cancer.

The INCA study said alcohol was now the second most avoidable cause of death after tobacco. The findings contradict numerous other studies which have found that the antioxidants in red wine actually reduced the risk of cancer, and that a single glass a day was also good for the liver.