UPDATED 12.33PM: The alcohol industry has been accused of being blind to the link between alcohol consumption and cancer, and an addiction expert believes new research needs to be taken seriously by regular drinkers.

A new paper in the journal Addiction has found strong evidence of alcohol causing seven types of cancer, and weak evidence it prevents cardiovascular disease.

The paper, by Otago University professor Jennie Connor, is being downplayed by the alcohol industry.

But her colleague, psychiatry professor Doug Sellman, said the industry is in denial about the cancer risks of its product in the same way the tobacco industry used to be.

"We had that forty or fifty years of the tobacco industry obfuscating the truth and the alcohol industry is using those exact same tactics now," he said.

Professor Sellman said a regular glass of alcohol can no longer be treated as a health food - and the alcohol industry is reluctant to accept that.

"The alcohol industry finds it even hard to tell people how many calories are in their alcoholic beverages, let alone tell them their product increases the risk of getting cancer," he said.

Professor Sellman said people need to stop thinking of regular alcohol consumption as a health supplement.

But Spirits New Zealand chief Robert Brewer insists the work doesn't actually prove alcohol causes cancer.

He says a study could find people who wear jeans drive too quickly, but that wouldn't necessarily mean jeans cause crashes.

"A reasonable person would say that's not the case, that there are lots of different factors that come together to cause people to both speed and for people to have car crashes," he said.

Brewer says there are also a wide range of factors which contribute to the risk of a person getting cancer.