What are the Serious Risks of Excessive Alcohol and Tobacco Consumption?

Alcohol and tobacco pose a serious health risk and both are two risk factors for many diseases that together do not add up but multiply, especially if we talk about cancer, causing the death of millions of people in the world.

Precisely, a recent study published in the Lancet magazine mentions that tobacco and alcohol are the main causes of cancer in the world. The first conclusions confirm that tobacco is the first-factor favoring cancer (33.9%), followed by alcohol (7.4%) worldwide.

The same research also describes that approximately half of all cancers are not attributable to a given risk factor, which shows that prevention is not enough to win the battle against cancer. Early diagnosis and effective treatment must therefore be the other two pillars of an intelligent health policy.

Dangers of tobacco and alcohol

Dr. Mauricio León Rivera, director of the League Against Cancer, medical director of the Cancer Detection Center and head of the Mastology Unit of the Ricardo Palma Clinic, pointed out that tobacco is the second most consumed drug in Peru. More than eight million inhabitants have consumed tobacco at some time in their lives and almost half a million Peruvians between 19 and 24 years of age already have this bad habit.

„Tobacco is responsible for some 16,700 deaths a year in Peru, of which 14 percent are men and 10 percent are women,” he remarked. Likewise, he said that alcohol consumption is a causal factor of more than 200 diseases, some examples are:

Liver cirrhosis
Some types of cancer
Cardiovascular diseases
Traumas derived from violence
Traffic accidents

Changing bad habits

Dr. Mauricio León pointed out that around 30% of cancer deaths are due to risk factors that can be modifiable, that is, it is up to each one of us to change some bad habits.

„In this way, cancer can be prevented through the adoption of healthy habits, which include a balanced diet rich in fruits and vegetables, maintaining an adequate weight, practicing regular physical activity, not using tobacco and moderating alcohol consumption,” he concluded.