The Cancer Council of Australia has pointed out that a large number of cancer deaths in Oz can be prevented by limiting the amount of alcohol we consume. In studies conducted in 2004-2005 the cost of alcohol to Australians was estimated at $15.3 billion. That combined with smoking and an overall unhealthy lifestyle is what is causing so many cancer deaths in Oz. The Cancer Council advocates a lifestyle change, which includes cutting out smoking, drinking alcohol in moderation, eating healthier foods and exercise to reduce high cancer statistics.
In terms of alcohol consumption, people should be limiting themselves to a maximum of a few standard drinks a day. Studies also show that young adults especially are putting themselves at risk by excessively consuming alcohol.
This post on the Canberratimes.com website is informative on the issue:
AUSTRALIANS would rejoice if medical science could prevent 30 per cent of cancer deaths in this country, yet a solution is already available.
Cancer Council of Australia chief executive Ian Olver says a dramatic reduction of cancer deaths is possible, simply with lifestyle changes. Those choices include not smoking, moderate alcohol consumption, eating healthy food and reasonable exercise.
The recent ruling by Australia’s High Court which in effect supported the government’s decision to require cigarettes to be sold in olive-brown packets seems likely to limit the uptake of smoking by young people, but this is only one component of what should be a far broader approach to improving Australia’s overall health.
Estimating the economic cost to Australia of tobacco, alcohol and illicit drugs is reasonably inexact. It seems the most credible work on this is by Collins and Lapsley, and that data is based on 2004-05 figures. However, it certainly gives an indication of the need to address the use of these drugs.
In summary, in 2004-05, tobacco smoking was estimated to cost Australian society $31.5 billion; the consumption of alcohol, $15.3 billion; and the social cost of illicit drug use was estimated at $8.2 billion. We now need a study of the social cost of junk food.
Whether the plain packaging of tobacco will achieve the aim of making the product less attractive will take some years to determine. Meanwhile, it is fair to ask why purveyors of alcohol and junk food are free to advertise with only limited restrictions. It is not reasonable to argue, as tobacco producers do, that consumption of potentially dangerous products is a matter only of personal choice. As indicated by the Collins and Lapsley figures, poor individual choices are paid for by everyone.
With the known risks of alcohol consumption, Professor Olver says the council supports the National Health and Medical Research Council recommendation that people should limit themselves to a couple of standard drinks a day.
Yet a 2010 study found 28 per cent of males and 11 per cent of females in Australia drank alcohol at levels that put them at risk of alcohol-related harm over their lifetime. It also found 23 per cent of males and nine per cent of females consumed alcohol in quantities that put them at risk of alcohol-related injury from a single drinking occasion at least weekly.
Read more: http://www.canberratimes.com.au/opinion/the-hidden-costs-of-alcohol-and-junk-food-20120825-24sr4.html#ixzz24ajQHKXF
According to research done in The U.K, the excessive consumption of alcohol can certainly contribute to 7 kinds of cancer. Obviously not all people who drink alcohol are going to develop cancer but alcohol can contribute to:
1. Mouth cancer
2. Pharyngeal cancer (upper throat)
3. Oesophageal cancer (food pipe)
4. Laryngeal cancer (voice box)
5. Breast cancer
6. Bowel cancer
7. Liver cancer
In addition to that, people who smoke and drink alcohol excessively increase their chances of cancer even more because tobacco and alcohol combined work together to damage cells of your body. Doctors even warn that alcohol makes it easier for the mouth and throat to absorb the cancer-causing chemicals in tobacco.
Studies have found that, on average, people who smoke and drink are up to 50 times more likely to get some types of cancer than people that don’t.
But how exactly does alcohol damage your body? Well when we drink alcohol, it is converted in the body into a toxic chemical called Acetaldehyde. This chemical is responsible for the hangovers we feel after drinking. But perhaps even worse than the hangover it causes, this toxic chemical actually damages DNA and stops cells from repairing damage done by the Acetaldehyde. It also makes liver cells grow faster than normal which are more likely to pick up changes in their DNA leading to cancer.
So before you go on that next drinking spree, don’t just think of the headache the next day but also remember the long term damage you are doing to your body. This is just another reason to drink and serve alcohol responsibly.
