Cancer Prevention
Lifestyle continued...
Tobacco
According to the American Cancer Society, smoking causes damage to nearly every organ in the human body, is linked to many cancers, and accounts for at least 30 percent of all cancer deaths. Tobacco costs billions of dollars each year. Estimates indicate that one in five Americans still smokes.
It is also linked to many cancers, and accounts for at least 30 percent of all cancer deaths.
Tobacco costs billions of dollars each year. Estimates indicate one in five Americans still smokes.
People who use smokeless tobacco (snuff or chewing tobacco) are at increased risk of cancer of the mouth.
- Quit the habit, and stay away from second hand smoke!
(check out our links page for help in quitting smoking)
Alcohol
Drinking excessive amounts of alcohol increases the risk of cancers of the mouth, esophagus, pharynx, larynx, throat and liver in men and women, and of breast cancer in women.
Generally, these risks increase after about one daily drink for women and two daily drinks for men. (A drink is defined as 12 ounces of regular beer, 5 ounces of wine, or 1.5 ounces of 80-proof liquor.)
The chances of getting liver cancer greatly increase with five or more drinks per day. Heavy alcohol use may also increase the risk of colorectal cancer, and leads to greater growth of risk for most of the alcohol-related cancers.
The longer a person drinks heavily, the greater the cancer risk. Using alcohol with tobacco is more dangerous than using either substance alone, because it compounds the chances of getting cancers of the mouth, throat, and esophagus.
In people who both smoke and drink, the cancer risk is more than 40 times greater than that for nonsmokers and nondrinkers. Clearly the combination of alcohol and tobacco is far riskier than using either substance alone.