4a. Intro: Alcohol and Cancers

Did you know that drinking alcohol can increase your risk of getting cancer? In fact, there is strong evidence to suggest that the more alcohol a person drinks over time, the more likely they are to develop several types of cancer.

Why does alcohol increase the risk of cancer? As you learned earlier, as the body breaks alcohol down, it creates acetaldehyde, which is harmful to DNA. When the DNA becomes damaged, the cells will grow out of control and create cancer tumors.

In this lesson, we will learn how alcohol affects the chances of developing head and neck cancers, esophageal cancer, liver cancer, breast cancer, colorectal cancer, and how it affects cancer treatments.