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A new survey has recently suggested that about 9 in 10 people are not aware that drinking red wine may increase a person's risk of developing cancer. According to World Cancer Research Fund, many people are unaware of the steps they could take to lower their cancer risk.

The Independent reported that the newest evidence suggests that there are more harmful effects alcohol has on the risk of developing cancer than the claimed healthy benefits. The report also revealed that the warning comes after a new survey discovered that 87 percent British adults have no idea that drinking this "healthy" alcoholic beverage could, in fact, increase a person's risk of having cancer.

The survey also showed that 27 percent of people aging 18 to 24 years old know more about the risks and identify it as a risk factor than 6 percent of people over the age of 55. However, the charity discovered that about three- quarters of people know about the link between inherited genes and cancer, although it only accounts for less than one in 10 cases.

The charity also said that not drinking alcohol is one of the most important things people can do to lower their chance of developing, together with not smoking and maintaining a healthy weight. Sarah Toule, head of health information at World Cancer Research Fund said in an interview with Mail Online that although it is very worrying, it is not surprising that few people are aware that red wine increases cancer risk since there are so many contradictory messages out there.

9 in 10 of Brits unaware that #RedWine increases cancer risk: https://t.co/q01wMYP45O pic.twitter.com/d1nsEO94te

— WCRF UK (@WCRF_UK) February 9, 2017

Toule explained that all types of alcohol can raise the risk of several types of cancers so they would recommend for cancer prevention that people don't drink any alcohol. As a matter of fact, there are about 21,000 cancer cases that could be prevented in the United Kingdom every year if no one consumed alcohol.

"We know that it can be hard for people to not drink at all so we'd encourage them to be 'alcohol savvy' if they do. For example, add a low-calorie mixer to your alcohol and, in between each alcoholic drink, have a glass of water. It's also really important to not binge-drink and to spread your weekly limit of seven drinks over a number of days as well as keeping a few days alcohol-free," she added.