Research
has shown that risks for cancer increase among men who have two alcoholic
drinks a day and women who have one alcoholic drink per day. While
everyone has been widely aware of the fact that smoking cigarettes greatly
increase your risk of contracting cancer, there has been very little
publicity of the fact that alcohol can act as a similar carcinogen.
By its very nature and design, the consumption of
alcohol damages cells in your body. This damage can easily promote cell
division, stimulate enzymes which cause the activation of other
carcinogens and destroy certain nutrients that act as natural
preventatives to cancer.
Most of the research indicates that a strong link
exists between alcohol and cancers of the esophagus, pharynx and mouth.
There is a suggested, those less strongly proven, link between cancers of
the liver, breast and colon.
According to the American Cancer Society, oral cancers
are six times more common in alcohol users than in non alcohol users.
Obviously, all of this evidence points to the
conclusion that you should avoid alcohol so you can lower your chances of
contracting these types of cancer.
For most people the question then comes down to a
simple decision: are the benefits of drinking alcohol larger than the
potential deficits of cancer? As long as the mythology continues that
there is no cure for cancer, the question should be fairly simple to
answer. Very few people would happily enjoy a few nights out with friends
drinking for months or years of painful cancer.
Put plainly, our bodies are designed to heal
themselves. Our immune system was created to keep our bodies healthy.
However, like any other worker, our immune system cannot do its work if we
don’t give it the necessary tools.
One of the effects of alcohol, which isn’t one of the
reasons most folks drink it, is that it reduces the ability of your immune
system to do its job. So, people who regularly drink alcohol are regularly
inhibiting the ability of their immune system to do its job.
Our cells are constantly dividing and there are a large
number of ways the cell can become malignant. In reality, we probably
develop malignant cells on a daily basis. However, once they become known
to our immune system as a threat, they are destroyed.
It’s only when our immune system somehow misses the
indications that a cell is becoming a problem that we term it cancer.
There is no dispute about the fact that doing anything
which will inhibit our immune system increases our chances for becoming
ill. It’s significantly odd, then, that we all continue going about our
lives while continually doing things that inhibit our immune systems.
In the end, we all need to evaluate the actions we take
and the decisions we make with an eye towards the potential rewards versus
the potential risks. Alcohol diminishes the immune system and a diminished
immune system greatly elevates our chances of developing cancer. Next time
you start to drink alcohol, stop and ask your immune system if it really
wants to get drunk.
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