USA. Warnings on alcoholic beverages as on cigarettes? The US Surgeon General wants change

In a statement issued on Friday, Dr. Vivek Murthy said that alcohol consumption may increase the risk of cancer. He also called for updating warnings on alcoholic beverages. “Data has long shown a link between alcohol consumption and cancer risk,” Murthy said in an interview with CNN. – I have carefully analyzed this information to better understand its details. We came to several key conclusions: First, there is a direct link between alcohol consumption and seven types of cancer, including breast and colorectal cancer. We also found that alcohol is now the third leading preventable cause of cancer in the United States, after smoking and obesity. Every year, alcohol is responsible for 100,000 cancer cases and 20 thousand deaths in the United States – he emphasized.

– Currently, all alcoholic beverages carry a warning regarding the risk of drinking alcohol during pregnancy and driving or operating heavy machinery under the influence. These warnings have been accepted by society over the years, Murthy recalled. – I believe that a third warning should be added – regarding the risk of cancer – he noted.

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Dr. Vivek Murthy recalled that when a report on the link between tobacco and cancer was published in 1964, “the very next year Congress required warnings to be placed on cigarette packages.” – However, this is not the only way. Healthcare organizations, doctors and nurses can play a key role in educating patients on this topic. Importantly, even drinking alcohol within current guidelines – one drink a day for women and two drinks a day for men – is associated with an increased risk of cancer, Murthy told CNN.

Dr. Agnieszka Jagiełło-Gruszfeld from the Masovian Oncological Hospital in “You get up and know” on TVN24 noted that a label informing about the effects of alcohol consumption could be a warning to young people who “may not realize that alcohol is a poison and that one One of its adverse effects is an increased risk of cancer.

For example, it has been proven that the consumption of even small doses of alcohol, such as a glass of wine a day, may increase the number of breast cancer cases. – The fact that breast cancer, which is known to be the most common cancer among women, depends on alcohol is information that has appeared relatively recently and has been proven relatively recently – said the expert. She explained that alcohol is metabolized in the liver and affects estrogen metabolism. – Breast cancer is mostly an estrogen-dependent cancer (…), therefore, the metabolism disturbed by alcohol may cause an increase in the number of cases – said Dr. Jagiełło-Gruszfeld on TVN24.

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