Research has shown that risks for cancer increase among men who have two alcoholic drinks a day and women who have one alcoholic drink per day. While everyone has been widely aware of the fact that smoking cigarettes greatly increase your risk of contracting cancer, there has been very little publicity of the fact that alcohol can act as a similar carcinogen.
By its very nature and design, the consumption of alcohol damages cells in your body. This damage can easily promote cell division, stimulate enzymes which cause the activation of other carcinogens and destroy certain nutrients that act as natural preventatives to cancer.
Most of the research indicates that a strong link exists between alcohol and cancers of the esophagus, pharynx and mouth. There is a suggested, those less strongly proven, link between cancers of the liver, breast and colon. According to the American Cancer Society, oral cancers are six times more common in alcohol users than in non alcohol users. Obviously, all of this evidence points to the conclusion that you should avoid alcohol so you can lower your chances of contracting these types of cancer.
For most people the question then comes down to a simple decision: are the benefits of drinking alcohol larger than the potential deficits of cancer? As long as the mythology continues that there is no cure for cancer, the question should be fairly simple to answer. Very few people would happily enjoy a few nights out with friends drinking for months or years of painful cancer.
Interestingly, both my father & his father (both alcoholics) died from cancer that started in the throat.
I chose to stop drinking because I felt as if I was just borrowing trouble with that kind of family history of drinking. Now I am more satisfied with that decision.