alcohol & cancer

US Surgeon General Warning ⛔️

First of all, it's interesting that the Surgeon General is neither a surgeon nor a general.  He's actually an internal medicine doctor! He has probably spent many hours at odds with surgeons in his training, and now he carries the title of one… at least for a few more weeks.  Life is funny sometimes.

Anyway, he recently recommended that warning labels be placed on alcoholic beverages in the US stating that they are a risk factor for cancer.  The link between alcohols and cancer has been well established but is something that the general public may not be fully aware of.

According to the CDC, over 522,000 alcohol-associated cancers occurred in the United States in 2021, with breast cancer as the most common alcohol-associated cancer among women. Colorectal cancer is the most common alcohol-associated cancer among men.

I don't know if a warning label will actually be placed or if doing so will make a difference in our alcohol consumption in America; however, it is interesting that the surgeon general is bringing awareness to this, as we are seeing more and more cancers in younger people.  

Currently, many medical providers recommend not drinking alcohol at all… not even a glass of red wine at night!  This is obviously a change from the past.