Good news if you made a New Year’s resolution to drink less: A new report indicates quitting drinking could cut your risk of developing certain cancers.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) reported in its recently published special report in the New England Journal of Medicine that ethanol, the main form of alcohol comprising alcoholic beverages, is the most popular psychoactive substance in the world. Additionally, the IARC said there is sufficient evidence to classify alcohol as carcinogenic for its ability to cause oral, pharyngeal, laryngeal, esophageal, liver, colorectal, and breast cancer. Alcohol contributed to 741,300 new cancer cases in 2020—one reason the World Health Organization (WHO) stated that “no safe amount of alcohol consumption for cancers and health can be established.”
