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A new report from the American Association for Cancer Research emphasizes a cancer risk that its authors say is being overlooked: alcohol.
Overall, cancer death rates in the US have declined by 33 percent between 1991 and 2021 — equal to about 4.1 million deaths that were avoided. Lower rates of smoking and improvements in early detection, prevention, and treatments of cancer all contributed to that decline.
But our vastly improved ability to combat cancer belies a concerning trend: the rates of contracting certain forms of the disease — including breast, colorectal, and cervical cancer have gone up, even in adults younger than 50.
The exact cause is unclear, though theories abound — microplastics, anyone? But as the AARC hammers home in this new report, established research shows about 40 percent of all cancer cases in the US are associated with lifestyle choices like tobacco use, diet, and physical activity.
This brings us back to alcohol, a widespread cancer risk, and one that doesn't bear nearly the same stigma for risk as smoking. In 2019, the most recent year for which this data is available, the proportion of cancers attributed to alcohol was 5.4 percent, or roughly one in every eighteen cases. (Smoking, on the other hand, accounts for about 20 percent of all cancers in the US, according to the American Cancer Society.)
And yet, the report authors warn, public awareness about the link between alcohol and cancer is still low.
"Fifty-one percent of people — or more than half — do not know that alcohol increases your risk of cancer," Jane Figueiredo, an epidemiologist at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in LA who was involved in the report, told the New York Times. "That's concerning."
Elsewhere, like the European Union, other research has shown public awareness may be even lower.
One factor that's likely driving that lack of awareness is all the myths we have about alcohol's supposed health benefits, like the widely held perception that consuming small amounts of red wine is good for heart health. The science on this, however, is disputed.
"We can talk about the myth that red wine has potential cardiovascular benefits, but there are many ways to keep your heart healthy, and these potential benefits don't really outweigh your cancer risks," Figueiredo added.
The primary way that alcohol raises cancer risk is by damaging your body's DNA while it's being digested. It can also disrupt the essential bacteria that line your gut, which some research has shown leads to a higher risk of colorectal cancer. Drinking at a young age also appears to raise your chances of developing cancer later in life, the report found.
At the end of the day, though, having a few drinks here and there probably isn't going to be the end of the world. The real risk, its seems, is people not being aware of the risks.
As one way to raise awareness, the authors suggest putting cancer-specific warning labels on alcoholic beverages, like we've done with tobacco products. Let's see how people respond to that.
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