The researchers from Bristol University say other research has found that heavy alcohol intake is a risk factor for hypertension (high blood pressure) but such studies were blurred by factors such as diet, smoking, exercise levels and socio-economic status.

The study by the Bristol team has it seems revealed a more positive link between heavy drinking and hypertension.

The team led by Dr Sarah Lewis focused on people who have a mutation on a gene which affects their body's ability to get rid of alcohol.

The body produces an enzyme which removes alcohol from the body called aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2) and the genetic mutation leads to an inability to get rid of alcohol.

Individuals with this mutation often suffer facial flushing after drinking alcohol along with intense nausea, drowsiness, headache and other unpleasant symptoms and therefore drink much less than those without it.

The Bristol researchers looked at studies which were mainly done in Japan where the ALDH2 gene variant is common.

They compared the blood pressure of people with the ALDH2 gene and compared it to the blood pressure of those who have the mutation.

The researchers found individuals with the ALDH2 gene, who had an average alcohol intake of around three units per day, had strikingly higher blood pressure than those with the gene mutation, who tend to drink only very small amounts, or no alcohol at all.

Dr. Lewis says the study shows that alcohol intake may increase blood pressure to a much greater extent, even among moderate drinkers, than previously thought.

The researchers say as inheritance of these genetic variants does not seem to affect lifestyle factors other than alcohol intake, so an association between ALDH2 genotypes and blood pressure indicates that alcohol intake has an effect on blood pressure.

They say the findings support the suggestion that alcohol has a marked effect on blood pressure, at least for Japanese men but also say more large-scale studies are needed to confirm the finding in more people, and to improve the estimates of the effect that alcohol intake has on blood pressure.

The research is published in the the Public Library of Science (PLoS) Medicine journal.

According to the United States Department of Agriculture, Americans were eating an average of 36 ounces of red meat every week in 2006, Scroggs said. Scroggs recommends serving about three ounces (about the size of a deck of cards) of cooked red meat at meals. If you follow this recommended serving size, you can include red meat in as many as six meals of your weekly diet.

AICR also recommends eating very little processed meat (meat preserved by smoking, curing, salting or adding chemical preservatives), such as ham, bacon, hot dogs, sausages, pastrami and salami. Every ounce and a half of processed meat eaten a day is thought to increase a person's risks of developing colorectal cancer by 21 percent.

It's a good idea to avoid eating processed meats as much as possible, Scroggs said. Save that hot dog for special occasions, such as a family cookout or the ballpark.

Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer found in men and women in this country. The American Cancer Society estimates almost 150,000 new cases of colorectal cancer in the United States for 2008. Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death among Americans but is considered a highly preventable disease.

For more information on colorectal cancer prevention strategies, visit mdanderson/cancerawareness.

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