According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, “People ages 12 to 20 drink 3.0% of all alcohol consumed in the United States. Although youth drink less often than adults, when they do drink, they drink more.” With that kind of probability for teenage drinking, it makes the results of another study conducted by the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Research Institute, which led the U.S. Surgeon General to release an advisory last month, regarding a link between alcohol and cancer.
In the advisory, Murthy warns that even in moderation, alcohol consumption can increase the risk of at least 7 different kinds of cancer including breast, liver, colorectal, esophageal, mouth, throat, and voice box cancers. It also states that Alcohol is the third leading preventable cause of cancer in the U.S. In 2020, 7431,300 cancer cases worldwide were linked to alcohol consumption. Additionally, alcohol was responsible for nearly 100,000 cancer cases and about 20,000 cancer deaths each year.
