Nothing tastes better than a tall glass of wine after a long day—but you often finish your drink way too quickly. Just a few more can’t hurt, right? Well, not so fast. Truth be told, binging on booze could put you at risk for several forms of cancer, doctors say.
Surprised? You’re not the only one. In a recent survey by the Alcohol Health Alliance UK (AHA), a British charity, most people admitted they weren’t aware how damaging alcohol can be for their bodies.
The charity’s data crunchers asked over 2,000 people across the United Kingdom about their attitudes toward alcoholic beverages. Only 10 percent of people know alcohol can cause cancer, the results revealed. Meanwhile, just 16 percent of people are aware of the guidelines for healthy alcoholic consumption.
“We urgently need to raise awareness,” AHA’s expert on cancer prevention, Professor Linda Bauld, told HuffPost UK. “Requiring warning labels on alcohol products making clear the cancer link would be one way to do this.”
While the AHA only surveyed British adults, the connection between alcohol and cancer is well-established across the board. Recent research has found that regularly consuming white wine can increase your risk of skin cancer by 14 percent, and drinking just one alcoholic beverage per day could lead to breast cancer. Overall, alcohol use has been linked to at least seven different types of cancer, according to the American Cancer Society.
Now that you’re clued in on alcohol’s link to this deadly condition, it might be time to cut back on your boozy beverages. The USDA recommends limiting your intake to one drink per day for women and two drinks for men.
