Research about alcohol gives rise to many insights

I’ve added a comment to an earlier post which is entitled:

Kindly Presbyterian couple registered themselves as alcoholics, thereby ensuring crucial liquor supply for Tyrone Guthrie and colleagues during extended visit to Stratford in 1953

The comment reads:

A Jan. 8, 2022 CBC article is entitled: “Alcohol should have cancer warning labels, say doctors and researchers pushing to raise awareness of risk: Advocates of warning labels want Canadians to understand alcohol is one of top causes of preventable cancer.”

An excerpt reads:

It’s not a secret, but it may as well be. Few Canadians know the truth, and few may want to hear it: alcohol, any amount of alcohol, can cause cancer. There is no safe amount, and the calls to inform Canadians are growing.

“Even drinking one drink a day increases your risk of some cancers — including, if you’re a woman, breast cancer — but also cancers of the digestive system, the mouth, stomach,” said Tim Stockwell, a senior scientist with the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research at the University of Victoria.

“The risk increases with every drink you take.”

Alcohol has been classified as a Group 1 carcinogen (carcinogenic to humans) for decades by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). It’s right up there with tobacco and asbestos. Alcohol is also a top cause of preventable cancer after smoking and obesity.

But the vast majority of Canadians have no idea of the risk.

Stockwell wants to change that, and he and other health experts are advocating for cancer warning labels on alcohol containers. People need to know, he says, that though there are other genetic and lifestyle factors that contribute to developing cancer, every drink comes with a risk.

“The risk from alcohol, it’s a dose response. The bigger and more frequent the dose, the higher your risk.”

Alcohol is an interesting topic. Everywhere, the encouragement to drink is there. Plus, the history of Prohibition is also of interest.