Did you know that drinking alcohol increases your risk of cancer? Did you know that alcohol is the third leading preventable cause of cancer, behind tobacco and obesity? There is strong evidence that alcohol can cause several types of cancer, including breast, colon, mouth, throat, voice box, esophagus and liver cancers. If you didn’t know this, you’re not alone. In 2017, a survey conducted by the American Society for Clinical Oncology, found that only one third of the people asked knew alcohol was a risk factor for cancer. The scary thing is, this info isn’t new. The World Health Organization recognized alcohol as a risk factor back in 1987!
The federal government’s Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which once promoted moderate drinking for heart health, no longer makes that claim. A panel of scientists that helped shape the most recent edition of the guidelines called for the government to lower the recommended daily limit for alcohol consumption to just one drink a day for both men and women, citing evidence that higher levels of alcohol intake increase the risk of early death. But the alcohol industry lobbied fiercely against that change, and the latest guidelines, published in December 2020, did not include the lowered drink recommendation.
For that reason, several groups are campaigning to add warning labels to alcohol. Read this recently published article for the full story.