Most people know that there are adverse effects to alcohol consumption, but a new study reveals that drinking alcoholic beverages does, in fact, increase your risk of getting cancer. What's alarming is that the results of this study do not only show higher risk of cancer in heavy drinkers, but even moderate drinkers also develop greater risk as a result of their consumption of alcoholic beverages.
This study, from the University of Otago, states that even those who consume less than 2 alcoholic beverages a day are at higher risk compared to non-drinkers. What's worse is that alcohol consumption increases the risk for two types of cancer that are among the deadliest types - breast and bowel cancer. The vocal tract and the rest of the digestive system can also be affected by this, as the study shows that those who consume alcohol should be wary of cancers of the mouth, pharynx, esophagus, larynx, and liver.
According to a report from the Daily Mail, back in 2012 researchers from New Zealand found out that alcohol was responsible for 236 cancer related deaths in people who were aged 80 or younger. "About 60 per cent of all alcohol-attributable cancer deaths in New Zealand women are from breast cancer," says professor Jennie Conor, the lead author of this eye-opening study.
Not only would the reduction of alcohol consumption across an entre population be effective in reducing different types of cancers, but they will also provide many other health benefits. "Our findings strongly support the use of population-level strategies to reduce consumption because, apart from the heaviest drinkers, people likely to develop cancer from their exposure to alcohol cannot be identified, and there is no level of drinking under which an increased risk of cancer can be avoided," professor Connor.
Drinkaware has released a sobering video that shows how the consumption of alcoholic beverages affects a person's body over time. Hopefully, more campaigns like this will be released to reduce alcohol consumption and subsequently cancer risk.
