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WHO Just Explained What Really Increases The Risk of Developing 7 types of Cancers

Armen Hareyan's picture
Drunk man on a street

I don't know if it's the alcohol itself or the extra ingredients that go in today's alcohol drinks, but the World Health Organization (WHO) today announced that drinking alcohol can increase the risk of at least 7 types of cancer and limiting alcohol intake is one way to reduce your cancer risk. Apparently it's the ethanol in alcoholic drinks.


The report, published on the website of the World Health Organization, says that the use of alcohol can increase the risk of cancer. According to WHO, alcohol consumption affects the risk of developing bowel cancer, breast cancer, esophageal cancer, laryngeal cancer, liver cancer, oral cancer and throat cancer.

Alcohol and 7 Types of Cancers Are Linked

According to WHO it has been established that drinking alcohol can cause at least 7 types of cancer.

  1. bowel (colon and rectum)
  2. breast
  3. gullet (oesophagus)
  4. larynx
  5. liver
  6. mouth
  7. upper throat.

It's the Ethanol in Alcohol

Experts explain that all types of alcohol products contain ethanol, which leads to cell damage and also affects female hormones.

They argue that the cancer risk increases even with small doses of alcohol, but the degree of threat directly depends on how much alcohol a person uses. In particular, the risk of developing breast cancer in women increases by 50 percent, if a day she drinks 4 glasses of wine, and 130 percent, if 8 glasses.

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The problem is that people do not always see the connection between alcohol consumption and the risk of developing such cancers. It is claimed that the level of awareness of the relationship between alcohol and specific types of cancer ranges from 18% for breast cancer to 80% for liver cancer. Nevertheless, the WHO argue that in the European region, cancer accounts for 12% of all deaths associated with alcohol.

3 Solutions To Limiting Alcohol Intake

WHO researchers propose three solutions to limit the alcohol intake. The first solution is to increase the taxes on alcohol products. This will lead to the second solution, which is the increase in alcohol's cost. The third solution is to limit the alcoholic beverages in retail sales.

Scientists have long warned that drinking a lot of alcohol is dangerous for a person, but about the impact on the body of alcoholic drinks drunk in small quantities, the scientific community continues to be controversial. Some scientists who oppose the use of alcohol in any quantities are inclined to believe that the studies of their opponents are conducted with gross errors.

My question is this: Is ethanol one of the things alcohol producers add to alcoholic beverages as an additive or is it naturally comes with alcohol during the distilling process? Please let us know your opinion in the comments section below.

Perhaps it's the quality of alcohol that has changed over the centuries. Probably it was less harmful in the 1st century as Apostle Paul instructed Timothy to "use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities” (1 Tim 5:23). Paul was not advocating social drinking, but using "a little wine" for Timothy's stomach's sake and frequent infirmities. In the 1st century finding pure unpolluted water in the Middle East was difficult.

While alcohol consumption is a controversial issue and excessive alcohol is harmful, this study, published in 2010 says Red Wine, Resveratrol May Build Brain Resistance to Stroke.